Dancing With the Smashers
by Umbreon Mastah
Summary: When Master Hand decides to hold a dance...ahem, I mean BALL, Meta Knight is, of course, utterly horrified by the idea. But with his best friend dateless and the ball fast approaching, will he change his mind? Finished!
1. The Announcing of the Ball

Yes, I know I have another fic I should be working on, but I couldn't resist...

This is my first Super Smash Bros. story, so hopefully it doesn't stink! I know the first chapter's a little (cough_very_) short, so sorry 'bout that! It'll get longer, I promise! Anyway, to the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Super Smash Brothers in any way (except my own copy of the game! YAY!).

* * *

"So, could you tell me why we're here again?"

Meta Knight looked back at his best friend as the two of them walked into the large room. "Master Hand called for a meeting," he said simply. Jigglypuff glanced up at the ceiling.

"I know _that,_" she said, "but _why_ are we here?" Meta Knight saw no point in answering, so he instead just kept walking. The two stopped next to Samus, who wasn't in her power suit, and Wolf.

"Any idea what this is about?" Meta Knight asked the blonde. She shrugged.

"How would I know? Hopefully, it's not another Easter egg hunt." The female bounty hunter shuddered. "I'll never look at chocolate the same way again."

"Ugh," Wolf muttered in agreement. The four of them waited as the Smashers began to pile in. Finally, everyone was there. The two princesses, Peach and Zelda, walked up to them. Peach had a large, happy grin on her face.

"What are you smiling at?" asked Samus suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing, nothing!" said the blonde princess with a giggle. "Nothing at all!" This caused some nervous glances among the group, but no one said anything else.

"Could Master Hand hurry up?" Jigglypuff pouted. "I'm already bored beyond belief." Right on cue, a giant, gloved hand appeared in front of them.

"Good morning to all of you!" he said happily, although how he could talk without showing signs of a mouth of any kind is beyond me. Master Hand was met by a chorus of groans, mumbles, and one cheery "Good morning!" from (who do you think?) Peach. "I'm sorry that Crazy Hand couldn't be here, but he's having one of his...um...coffee fits again," the hand continued. "But, anyway, moving on to the announcements! First off, I'd like to make it known that there will be no uncalled for food fights in the cafeteria." This comment seemed to be pointed at Ness, Lucas, and Toon Link, who all looked down sheepishly. "Secondly, no one is allowed in the upstairs closet until the end of the week due to an...um...incident that occurred yesterday."

"I told you that that was a flippin' accident!" cried Pit indignantly. Master Hand simply ignored this comment.

"Finally," he said at last, "I would like to announce that this year, we will be holding a Spring Dance..."

"Ahem!"

Master Hand looked at Peach. "Spring _Ball,_ for all of the Smashers." The crowd burst into an overflow of complaints, jeers, and shouts. "Settle down, all of you!" the oversized hand shouted. "Attendance is completely _optional,_ though I do hope you all will come. You may bring a guest who is not a Smasher, if you wish. The Dance...ahem, Ball is two weeks from Saturday. I hope to see you all there in formal attire!" With that, he disappeared. The room was left in complete silence.

Until, that is, Samus cried out, "This was _your _idea, wasn't it?" She pointed an accusing finger at Peach.

"Isn't it a great idea?" said Peach happily, completely oblivious to the fact that every pair of eyes in the room was glaring at her. "There's going to be music, dancing, food..." A couple of eyes softened at the prospect of food.

"What kind of food?" Kirby asked.

"All kinds!" the princess replied.

"Even blueberry pancakes topped with spaghetti sauce and garlic?" asked Mario anxiously, who was now getting in to the idea of an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"Um...sure?"

"Count me in!" shouted the plumber, leaping up into the air.

"Give me food and I shall be happy!" chimed Wario in agreement. He, Kirby, and Mario all started doing happy little dances, being the three Smashers who were voted most likely to eat anything.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be _that_ bad," Link muttered under his breath. Ike looked at him.

"Please tell me you're not going along with this?"

"Um...I _would,_ but that would be lying."

"No! You're supposed to be on _my_ side!"

"Well, I'm _not! _Deal with it! What, do you have dependency issues or something?"

"I'd rather have dependency issues than girl issues, you perverted freak!"

"Take that back!"

"No!"

"God, you two, shut it!" cried Zelda, clutching her head as if she had a headache. The two swordsmen stopped, blushing, and stood in awkward silence. Next to them, Marth snapped his fingers.

"Um, guys? Hello? Guys?"

Jigglypuff poked Meta Knight. "Hey, a dance might be okay, maybe. What do you think?"

"No." End of story.

"Are you sure?" she asked him, her large, innocent green eyes gleaming. She gave him her best puppy dog face, but Meta Knight had known her far too long for that to work on him anymore.

"Positive," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't do dances." He glanced towards Peach. "Let alone _balls._"

"You really don't want to come?" asked the balloon Pokémon, pouting a little.

"Yes," he sighed. "I. Do not. Want. To come." Finally, Jigglypuff gave up.

"Fine," she muttered. "Have it your way. I'll go anyway."

"I'm not stopping you."

"Okay."

"Fine."

The two friends stood in silence, until Jigglypuff said, "Hey, I'm gonna go get ice cream in the cafeteria. Wanna come?"

"I've got nothing better to do," Meta Knight said, and they walked down the hallway.

But all the while, he had this strange feeling that the dance would be nothing but trouble.

* * *

Yes, _very_ short, I know. Like I said, the next chapters WILL be longer. I promise. R&R, please, my friends!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	2. The Dated and the Dateless

Haha, quick update, I know. Don't expect all updates to be this quick (sorry! I'm not on spring break all year, ya know?) Like I promised, this one's longer, but it's still a bit short...sorry 'bout that...again... (cough) Well, I'm too lazy to do the disclaimer, so... (clapclap) Jiggly!

Jigglypuff: (sigh) Umbreon Mastah doesn't own anything related to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Happy?

Me: Very. Have a cookie while the people out there read.

Jigglypuff: YAY! A COOKIE!

* * *

"I still don't see why you're obsessing over this," muttered Meta Knight with a yawn as he watched Jigglypuff run around the room nervously.

"You're not coming, you wouldn't understand," she told him. "And showing up to the ball without a date would be like...like...like showing up to the ball without a date!"

"Ah, _now_ I see why you're so upset," he said sarcastically. The balloon Pokémon stuck out her tongue. "Women," he said to himself.

"I heard that!" Jigglypuff called threateningly. "I bet that all of the other girls have dates, and I'm the only who's going to be there alone, and it'll be extremely embarrassing, and you don't care in the slightest!" She sat down and pouted. Meta Knight sighed.

"Number one," he explained, "dances are embarrassing whether you're dateless or not. Number two, it's been three days since the announcement." He looked up at the ceiling. "Three days. The dance is _not_ tomorrow. You have time."

"Not enough! I should have started asking that day! This is horrible, it's the apocalypse, it's..."

"Jigglypuff, look at me." Jigglypuff stopped for a minute. "Let me spell this out," he said. "You. Are. Obsessed. Stop. Worrying."

"Are you nuts?" she cried. "I'm not worrying! I'M IN A FREAKIN' PANIC!" She started dashing around the room again.

"Well, I'm not sure the room can withhold your 'freakin' panic' for much longer," said Meta Knight. The room _was_ kind of small, Meta Knight's dark blue bed to one side and Jigglypuff's pink one to the other. Master Hand hadn't put much thought into the rooms, or the roommates for that matter, seeing as he made the oh-so-wonderful mistake of putting Pikachu with the Pokémon trainer Red. You could hear loud screams of "STOP TRYING TO CATCH ME, YOU IDIOT!" at night. Meta Knight would have to agree that the Hand hadn't done the best of jobs. He wasn't too thrilled in the beginning either, but once you're stuck in a room with a hyperactive pink ball of fluff, you're going to have to be friends eventually.

"Fine then," the ball of fluff in question said. "If I'm getting annoying, I'll just leave. Maybe I'll ask someone to the dance now."

"You do that," he muttered uncaringly. Jigglypuff walked out into the hallway. As soon as she had disappeared, Meta Knight couldn't help but sigh with relief. Whoever had put this idea of rushing into Jigglypuff's head was a true idiot.

Then from outside, he heard a happy, overexcited voice that he unfortunately paired with Peach. "So, Jiggly, do you have a date yet?"

"Oh boy," he said to himself. Yep, a true idiot indeed.

* * *

Zelda, Peach, Samus, and Nana all walked up to Jigglypuff. The five girls started walking together down the hallway. "No, I don't have a date yet," said the balloon Pokémon with a sigh. "Why, do you?"

"No," said Peach, "but Nana does!" The female Ice Climber blushed a little.

"Peach..."

"Really, Nana? That's great!" Jigglypuff smiled warmly. "Who are you going with?"

"I'm...well...," she stuttered, "T.L...kind of asked me after breakfast today, and, well..." Nana faded off. She was always very shy, and having a _very_ large crush on Toon Link didn't exactly help. But Jiggly understood.

"I'm sure you two will have fun," she said, trying not to embarrass Nana any further. "Did anyone else get asked?"

"I did!" Peach said gleefully. "Twice..."

"Twice!" exclaimed Zelda. "Who asked you?"

"Who _would _ask you?" muttered Samus under her breath. Peach didn't seem to hear.

"Surprisingly, not Mario," she continued, "but I think he's too caught up in what exactly he's going to eat. It was actually Bowser yesterday."

"No surprise there," Jigglypuff said. Everyone knew that Bowser had an eye for the Mushroom Kingdom princess.

"And, this morning, Ganondorf asked." This caused quite a few stares.

"You're kidding me," said the Hyrulian at last. "He asked_ you_ before _me?_ Not that I'd go with him, but still...that's kind of insulting..."

"What did you tell them?" the blonde bounty hunter cut in before Zelda started to have a fit.

"I told them I had to think about it," she said. "Personally, dancing with either one of them might be a little difficult."

"I see your point," Jigglypuff said, glancing at the ceiling. "How about you guys?"

"Link hasn't asked yet," said Zelda. "And I haven't asked anyone, so I'm still dateless."

"Basically," Samus said, "someone has yet to ask me, and I'm not going to be asking anyone anytime soon. I may not even be going." Peach gave her a look that said, _I'm making you go, dateless or not,_ but she completely ignored it. "I still see no point in this."

"Well, has anyone _asked_ you yet?" Peach asked, still shooting daggers with her eyes at Samus. Jigglypuff realized that the question was pointed at her.

"Nope," she said. "I didn't ask anyone, either, so..."

"Meta Knight didn't ask you?" Jiggly's eyes went wide at Peach's reaction. She felt her face go slightly red.

"Why would you assume that?" she said.

"Well, you two are such good friends," the princess told her, "and you guys _do _make a cute...ouch!" Samus, sensing where this was going, quickly elbowed her in the ribs as a signal to shut it. "That wasn't nice!" she pouted. In return, Samus whistled innocently.

"No, Meta Knight isn't going," the pink Pokémon said quickly. Her face went redder still. Peach took no notice.

"Aww, he's not? I really wanted to see you two dancing...hey!" This time, it was Zelda doing the whistling. Then, it was Nana to the rescue.

"Umm, guys?" she said shakily. "Let's go get lunch, okay?"

"Sure," the others agreed.

"I think today is ravioli day!" exclaimed Peach excitedly, all thoughts of dances wiped from her mind...at least, for the moment. Jigglypuff mentally thanked Nana.

But why had she frozen like that? It was a simple question, if not a completely random and uncalled for one. _Maybe I just can't see Meta Knight ever asking anyone to a dance,_ she thought. _That's why I was so shocked. _She still wasn't convinced, but it would have to do for now. There was ravioli at stake.

* * *

That night, the lounge was emptier than it usually was. Most of the Smashers had gone to watch Diddy Kong and Falco brawl that night, so the place was somewhat quiet. The T.V. was buzzing softly as Marth and Ike watched their favorite show. Mr. Game and Watch had turned the volume down on his handheld video game and was playing it in the corner. Fox and Meta Knight were in the middle of a game of War, and Fox was losing. Pretty badly.

"So," the Star Fox commander said, just to break the silence, "what are you gonna do about the dance thing?" Meta Knight didn't look up.

"Not going," he said, simple and to the point. Fox frowned as his king was beaten by Meta Knight's ace.

"You're lucky, man," he sighed. "Falco decided it would be funny if he told Krystal about the dance, and now she won't stop nagging me about it. If I don't bring her, she'll be at it for six months afterwards."

"I don't envy you," said Meta Knight.

"I thought you two broke up," Marth said, turning to look at them.

"We did." Fox sighed. "And then we got back together. And then we broke up again. And then we got back together. It's always something."

"At least you've got a girl," said Ike, not even bothering to pry his eyes away from the wondrous thing known as television. Game and Watch beeped in agreement. "Life's hard when there's no one here from your world."

"I'm right next to you, you moron," Marth said.

"Yes, but you're not a girl."

"Ugh."

"Well, are you guys going to come and share in my misery?" Fox asked them.

"If I can find a date," the blue-haired prince said. Ike nodded in agreement. "No idea who I'm asking, though."

"I know who I am," the other one said, a devilish glint in his eye. "I'm asking Zelda."

"Link is going to kill you," Meta Knight stated.

"He's going to kill me anyway." He had to agree with that. "That's why I feel it's semi-safe to ask her." Marth looked down at the ground, but no one besides Meta Knight noticed. Meta Knight was smart enough to know not to say anything. The War game ended, and Fox, being a sore loser, started muttering curses under his breath.

"Play again?" asked Meta Knight, shuffling the cards.

"Darn right," he said as he took his cards and began the game. He started losing again. "Why do I have such a horrible life?" he muttered. "How am I going to get out of this mess?"

"Grin and bear it."

"What do you know?" Fox said unhappily. "You're not even going!" Meta Knight looked up at him.

"That's why _I'm_ grinning," he said, "and _you're_ bearing it."

"Oh, you little...!" Fox's face started to go red as everyone else laughed. Meta Knight put down another card and smiled devilishly.

Maybe this dance thing was going to be more fun for him than he thought.

* * *

Uh oh, Meta Knight's getting some ideas...

Sorry if it wasn't the greatest of chapters, people. More fluff shall arrive soon! As always, R&R please! All reviewers will be given cookies!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	3. When an Asking Goes Bad

Here's the next chapter, my friends! Sorry that I updated later than I wanted to, my computer went nuts.

Meta Knight: No one wants to hear your excuses, they want to read.

Me: Fine! _You're_ doing the disclaimer this time!

Meta Knight: WHAT? Oh, fine. Ahem...Umbreon Mastah does not own anything related to Super Smash Brothers Brawl or _General Hospital._ If she did, I'd be in big trouble.

Me: (evil glare) Anyway, read!

* * *

For the next couple of days, the only thing that people were talking about was the ball. Jigglypuff, still dateless, walked with Meta Knight down the hall. "You know," she said, "I'm getting more and more envious of you every day."

"Most people are," he replied.

"You don't have to worry about any of this stuff."

"I know."

"You don't have to worry about finding a date, which I do!"

"Yep."

Jiggly glared at him. "This is the part where you're supposed to feel bad for me," she said.

"It is? I didn't notice."

"Meta Knight!" He let a small smile creep onto his face.

"I'm only kidding, Jiggly," he said. "You'll find a date."

"But what if I don't, Meta?" Meta Knight sighed.

"Jigglypuff, you have more than a week left. You will find a date." The balloon Pokémon didn't look very convinced.

"I hope so," she said under her breath. Suddenly, the two of them heard angry shouts. "What was that?" she asked him. Meta Knight shrugged.

"Let's find out." The two hurried down the hall. Once they got closer, they could understand what was being said.

"I was here first, you idiot!"

"No, I was!"

"You might have been here first, but I asked first!" Meta Knight and Jigglypuff recognized the voices as those of Ike and Link.

"Oh no," muttered Meta Knight. "I told him that it was a bad idea."

Jigglypuff looked at him, confused. "Told who? What?"

"You'll see in a second."

The scene before them was chaotic. Both Link and Ike had their swords drawn. Zelda, standing slightly behind and between those two, had a panicked expression on her face. On the sidelines, Marth was shouting at them.

"Break it up, guys!" he called. "You're acting like little kids!" The two completely ignored him.

"I thought you were my friend," snarled Link.

"Oh yeah?" Ike growled back. Both looked ready to pounce on each other in a second.

"Guys?" stuttered Zelda, her face pale white. "Guys, stop it, please!"

Jigglypuff and Meta Knight ran up next to Marth. "What the heck happened here?" the balloon Pokémon asked.

"They both asked Zelda to the dance," Marth replied. "At the same time."

"I warned him," muttered Meta Knight, "but did he listen? No, of course not!"

"You are not going with her," Link said menacingly, "and that's final."

"That's what you think!" The two got ready to charge.

"Take action now?" Marth whispered to Meta Knight. He nodded.

"Take action now."

Link and Ike leapt at each other. Zelda screamed. There was a sound of clashing swords.

"Get...out...of...my...way..." The Hyrulian swordsman glared at Meta Knight, who had leapt in front of him and countered his blow. Marth had done the same with Ike.

"Foolish idiot," Meta Knight muttered. "You're acting like you're a toddler. What if Master Hand found out that you were fighting outside of the stadium?"

"It wouldn't matter," Link said. "I'm going to kill him, that traitor!" He tried to push Meta Knight aside, but he caught the swordsman's arm.

"Stop right now."

"Never!" On the opposite side, Marth was having the same issues.

"Let me by, you idiotic, tiara-wearing freak! Let me at him!"

"Ike, settle down!" he cried. "This is stupid! Stop it!"

"No!" the mercenary shouted, pushing down even harder on his sword. Marth winced. Ike's sword was too heavy for his blade to hold it much longer.

"Stop!"

Everyone looked at where the voice came from. Zelda stood there, still white as a ghost. Tears had appeared in her eyes. "Stop fighting! How could I say yes to either of you when you can't even act like civilized beings!" The Hyrulian princess started crying. "Just...just leave me alone!" she shouted. Then she ran down the hallway.

"Zelda!" Link and Ike cried in unison. They put down their swords and were about to run after her when Jiggly stopped them.

"You morons!" she said, her voice taking a deadly tone that was rarely heard. "Can't you see that _you're_ the problem? _You're _the reason Zelda's crying, all because you two have to fight about everything! You don't deserve to be called heroes if you can't even treat your friends properly!" Everyone, including Jigglypuff, was shocked at her sudden outburst. "Oh," she said quietly, "did I just say that?" Meta Knight looked at her in amazement.

"Wow," he said to himself. Then he looked up at Marth. Great concern showed on his face. He was obviously very worried about Zelda. "Go," Meta Knight said. Marth looked down at him, confused. "Hurry up, kid, or you'll miss your chance. We'll take care of Frick and Frack here." The prince suddenly realized what Meta Knight was talking about, and a slight blush ran across his face. He shook it off quickly.

"I'll go talk to her," he said, passing by Link and Ike and giving them each a final glare before going after Zelda.

"We're in _big_ doodoo now, aren't we?" Ike whispered to Link. He looked at Jigglypuff's and Meta Knight's angry faces.

"Yep," he said with a sigh, "_big_ doodoo."

* * *

Finally, Meta Knight and Jigglypuff promised not to tell Master Hand about the little incident in the hallway if Link and Ike steered clear of Zelda and left her alone for a while. It really didn't make a difference, as Link went and locked himself in his room (much to the annoyance of his roommate, Yoshi), and Ike immersed himself in the crappy soap opera that he always watched. Neither Zelda nor Marth came down to dinner that night.

"I wonder where Zee is," said Peach through mouthfuls of mashed potatoes. Knowing that Peach would be all over the Hyrulian princess if she found out, Jigglypuff merely shrugged. "Anyway, Mario _still_ hasn't asked me to the ball yet, and I _still_ haven't given Ganondorf or Bowser an answer. How much of a chance do you think there is that Mario cares more about food than me?" Samus glanced over towards the table where Mario sat. The plumber had poured spaghetti sauce into his mashed potatoes as Wario and Kirby watched in awe. The potatoes suddenly blew up in their faces, and all three of them laughed hysterically.

"A very good one," she said. Nana chuckled softly. Suddenly, Wolf, Falco, and Fox appeared. They sat down next to the girls. "Hey," said Samus. Falco, who had stuffed his face with food the second he sat down, simply raised a wing. Fox nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hey," replied Wolf, who had taken his seat next to the female bounty hunter. "Does anyone have a T.V. set? My show's on tonight."

"You could just stake a claim on the T.V.," said Falco, though with his beak full it sounded more like, "You could just make out with Ivy." Wolf, his face twisted with disgust, looked back at Red's Ivysaur, who was tickling himself with his vines.

"What are you, some kind of pervert?" The bird swallowed his food.

"No, I said that you could just stake a claim on the T.V., Mr. Deaf," he said again. Wolf narrowed his eyes, but decided to dismiss it.

"I would, if Ike would stop watching that god-awful _General Hospital,_" he said. "He's been watching it for three hours straight, now."

"Really?" asked Peach, her interest now sparked. Jigglypuff sighed. So much for keeping it under the hat. "Is he like, depressed or something?"

"Come to think of it," Fox said, "I haven't seen Link around, either, but I heard Yoshi complaining about how their door was locked. Maybe it's just a bad day for swordsmen."

"Darn right," Jiggly muttered, but then she quickly shut up. She glanced towards Peach, hoping that she hadn't heard.

"Hmm," was all that the Mushroom Kingdom princess said. "Hey, I'm gonna get more potatoes. Be right back." She got up and headed for the food.

"Alright, Jiggly," said Samus as soon as Peach was out of earshot, "talk." The balloon Pokémon sighed.

"Fine, but you can't tell anyone, _especially_ not Peach," she said. "I don't want to make Zelda any more miserable than she already is."

"What happened?" asked Nana.

"Well, Ike and Link both wanted to ask Zelda to the dance, right?"

"Right," chimed everyone.

"Unfortunately, they picked the same time to ask."

"Oh, very bad," said Fox, flinching. Jigglypuff nodded.

"_Very bad_ is an understatement," she said. "I'm talking a near duel here."

"God, did they really?" Samus asked.

"Yep. They probably would have cut each other to bloody little pieces..."

"Bad image," muttered the Ice Climber under her breath.

"...if Meta Knight and Marth hadn't stopped them. Then Zelda basically rejected both of them and ran off crying, and Marth ran after her, so now Link's depressed, Ike's depressed, Zelda's depressed, _and _Marth's depressed." Jiggly sighed. "I'm surprised _I'm _not depressed by now."

"Ugh, that's terrible," Nana said.

"Yeah," said Falco quietly. Samus, however, wasn't as quiet.

"I _knew _this dance would be nothing but trouble!" she nearly shouted. Quite a few heads turned their way. "That's it," the bounty hunter said, "I am officially, not now, nor ever, taking part in anything that includes the words _dance, ball, _or _Peach._" Samus stood up, pushed in her chair, and stormed away.

"Sam...never mind, then," muttered Wolf. He sighed and kept his eyes to the ground. Peach returned, smiling happily as usual, and sat back down.

"Hey, where's Samus?" she asked. No one even looked up at her. A confused look crossed her face. "Did I miss something?"

* * *

"I hope Zelda's okay," said Jigglypuff as she and Meta Knight walked away from the cafeteria.

"I'm pretty sure she'll be fine," he replied. Jiggly looked at him. "Marth said he was going to check in on her, right?"

"Can we check anyway?" she asked.

"Um..." _And ruin Marth's romantic moment?_

"Come on." She grabbed Meta Knight's arm and dragged him along the hallway.

_Apparently so._

Once they had reached Zelda's door, Jigglypuff raised her hand to knock. "Hold up a moment," Meta Knight whispered. She put her hand down.

"Why are we whispering?"

"Quiet!" They heard Marth and Zelda from behind the door.

"Marth, thanks again." That was Zelda.

"It was nothing." Marth. Then there was silence for a while. Jigglypuff gave Meta Knight a look that said, _Can we stop eavesdropping now?_, but he ignored her. "Hey, Zelda?" asked Marth.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, um, if you...er...wanted...to go to the dance...with me?" Outside, the balloon Pokémon's face went from _I can't believe he just asked her _to _Oh my god, how cute! _to _You're a genuine psychic, aren't you? _in a matter of seconds. Meta Knight simply rolled his eyes in response.

"It _was_ kind of obvious, you know. Now let's get out of here before they find us."

"No, shush, I want to hear what she says!" she retorted back.

"I'd..." Zelda's voice was a bit hesitant. "I'd...I'd love to, Marth."

"YES!" Instantly, Jigglypuff covered her mouth. "Running now!" she exclaimed. Meta Knight sighed as, once again, he was dragged down the hallway.

Once the two arrived at their room, Jigglypuff said, "This is great!"

"Jiggly, please, it's too late to go all hyperactive on me," he said. She ignored him.

"Now, Nana has a date, and Zelda has a date! Yay! But now I've got to get a date before Peach does or I'll be the last girl, though."

"Hold up," said Meta Knight. "What happened to Samus?"

"She...um...decided not to come after she found out about the Link-Ike ordeal."

"I thought we were keeping that on a need-to-know basis..."

"Well, I only told her...and Nana...and Falco, Fox and Wolf," she said sheepishly. Meta Knight sighed. Typical Jigglypuff to blow a secret in record time.

"Never mind. By tomorrow, everyone will probably know despite how many people you told. It's just the way modern society works," he said as he opened the door. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed."

"Tomorrow, I'll ask someone, okay? Hold me to that."

"Yep," muttered Meta Knight sleepily as he climbed into bed. "Good night, Jigglypuff."

"'Night, Meta Knight."

* * *

And there you have it! It wasn't as MetaxJiggly fluffy as I hoped, but I swear on Jigglypuff's cookies that there will be tons of fluff next chapter. Anyway, hope you all liked it! Happy Easter to those who celebrate it, and Happy Spring to those who don't! More cookies to all reviewers!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	4. It's Not Easy Being Green

And I present to you, the longest chapter yet! (takes a bow) The fluff that I promised has arrived! And that is exactly the reason why Jigglypuff and Meta Knight are in hiding and I have to do my own flippin' disclaimer... But anyway!

Some of the guests are here! YAY! Including my favorite Sonic character of all time...mwahaha... Well, to the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I don't own Super Smash Bros. or any other Nintendo and/or Sega characters. Darn it all... The chapter title belongs to Kermit the Frog.

Read, and enjoy the fluff!

* * *

"Psst, Meta Knight?"

"Jigglypuff, it's two in the morning. Let me sleep." Meta Knight pulled the covers over his head and tried to ignore the pink ball of fluff that was, at the moment, poking him nonstop.

"It's not two in the morning, silly, it's _three_ in the morning!" said Jiggly happily. "Come on!"

"Why?" he asked, still only half-awake.

"To see the sunrise!"

"But the sun rises at _five _o'clock!" Jigglypuff laughed.

"One of the volcanoes in Norfair erupted in the middle of the night," she said. "There's going to be an early sunrise, and it's supposed to be bright red! It'll be cool! Hurry up!"

"If a volcano erupted last night, why didn't I wake up?" Meta Knight asked cynically.

"Because you could sleep through a freakin' tsunami. Now get up!" Sighing, he gave in and sat up.

"Happy?"

"Yes," Jigglypuff replied. "Let's go."

"Go where? Can't we just watch through the window?" sighed Meta Knight, who really wasn't in the mood for this.

"And miss half the fun?" He rolled his eyes. "No way! We're going to the roof!"

"Jiggly..." But she was already out the door. Meta Knight sighed. He climbed out of bed and followed her down the hall. "Wait up, darn it," he called. "Not everyone here wakes up as if they've just had a double espresso." Jigglypuff stopped for a moment and waited for him to catch up.

"You know," she said, "it wouldn't kill you to go a _little_ faster." Meta Knight gave her a look that said, _You just woke me up at three a.m., consider yourself lucky that I'm moving at all. _She dropped it. The two finally reached the ladder that took them up to the roof. Jiggly climbed it first, then Meta Knight. The air was chilly, and the sky was still dark.

"How long do we have to wait up here?" he asked her.

"No longer than fifteen minutes," she replied.

"Can you keep yourself from falling off the roof for that long?" She just stuck her tongue out at him. A cold gust of wind blew past them. Jigglypuff shivered.

"It _is_ kinda cold up here," she said. The friends sat down next to each other and waited for the sun. Without really thinking about it, Jigglypuff leaned towards Meta Knight and rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't notice, or if he did, he didn't mind. They sat in silence for a minute. "Hey, Meta Knight?"

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Remember the day we met?" she asked. Oh, he remembered it all too well.

"Wasn't that the day Kirby accidentally gave you sugar?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jigglypuff replied, laughing a little. "You kept giving me evil glares all day."

"You were too sugar-high to notice, I seem to recall."

"Remember your reaction when Master Hand told you that you were my roommate?" she asked him. Meta Knight smiled.

"Yep," he said. "Although, you have to admit that most people wouldn't exactly be thrilled at the prospect of sleeping in the same room as a hyperactive puffball, either."

"Hey, I'm not _that_ hyper!" she pouted.

"Yes, you are." Jiggly shoved him jokingly and laughed.

"Look, the sun's coming up!" she said. The two watched as the sky turned a brilliant red and a lone ball of scarlet heat rose slowly into the sky. The clouds, gray and dark in the night, now glowed in bright pinks and oranges. Wisps of purple and gold dotted the sky. It was a sight to behold. "It's so beautiful," whispered Jigglypuff. She snuggled closer to Meta Knight, who wrapped his arm around her. "Now, admit it," she said to him. He looked at her.

"Admit what?"

"That this was worth getting up early for."

"Fine," he said. "This was really worth getting up early for."

"Good," she said, and they sat there as day arrived, lone figures against the blazing sky.

But neither one of them noticed one other person, watching them from the shadows with a smile on her always happy face.

* * *

That day, some of the guests that the Smashers had asked to the ball arrived. Fox had given in and invited Krystal, who showed up early that morning. You could barely tell, by the way Krystal acted, that the two had had a stormy relationship. The she-wolf clung to Fox from the moment she walked in the door. Meta Knight couldn't help but laugh at the many _Help me!_ faces that Fox had sent at him whenever his date wasn't looking.

Red's guest had also come. He had invited another Pokémon trainer by the name of Blue. "Could these people's names be any more original?" Falco muttered under his breath, to which Meta Knight had to agree. Blue seemed to be a very shy girl at first glance, but she turned out to be very talkative. However, she always seemed to steer clear of Meta Knight.

"I don't think she likes me very much," he had said to Jigglypuff. She simply laughed. Blue's Pokémon, who were obviously going to the dance with Red's, had been let out and were running around with their counterparts and a very overexcited Pikachu. After all of the introductions, life continued as it normally did, or as normal as it got at the Smashers' Mansion. Blue and Popo had gotten themselves into a foosball match, and a couple of the Smashers cheered them on while others crowded around the T.V., which Ike had so reluctantly relinquished.

"I won!" the young girl cried. Her Wartortle cheered happily.

"You're pretty good," the male Ice Climber congratulated her.

"Thanks," she said. Blue then walked over to the T.V. Meta Knight eyed her carefully. She looked his way, and their eyes met for a second, then she shuddered and quickly turned away. Falco, who had been standing next to him, burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Meta Knight, which made the bird laugh even more until Wolf bopped him on the head.

"Sorry," Falco said, gasping for breath. "She's just doing a great job of hiding her dislike of you!" Meta Knight narrowed his eyes and was about to punch the bird, too, but he stopped himself. "Hey, I've got an idea!" the bird said suddenly.

"No," said Wolf.

"You don't even know what I'm going to say!"

"Let's keep it that way."

Ignoring him, Falco said, "Since Blue's freaking out about Meta Knight, what's to say that another guest won't, either?" The urge to punch the Star Fox pilot grew. "We should have Meta Knight open the door for the next person who comes!" he said, thoroughly convinced that his plan was the work of a genius.

"Falco, you're an idiot," Meta Knight said simply.

"Well, too bad, 'cause you're doing it, anyway!" he replied.

"I will if you stop bothering me."

"Deal!" Meta Knight sighed.

"You _are_ an idiot, aren't you?" Wolf just shook his head.

"And you just noticed?"

An hour later, the doorbell rang. Falco gave Meta Knight a look, which he returned with an evil glare. He walked to the door and opened it. Outside stood a purple cat with yellow eyes. She wore a violet jacket and white gloves with furry cuffs. Her pink high-heeled boots also donned furry cuffs, and she had a ponytail on the top of her head that looked almost like feathers. In the middle of her forehead was a single ruby. "Hello," he said. She just nodded in reply. "May I ask who you are?" Falco peeked out the door excitedly, but the cat didn't seem to be intimidated at all.

"My name is Blaze," she said, her tone emotionless. "Who are you?"

"Meta Knight," he replied. Blaze nodded again.

"This is the Smashers' Mansion, I assume?"

"You would be right."

"Blaze?" The voice came from inside.

"Sonic?" Blaze asked.

"BLAZE!" Suddenly, a blue blur came out of nowhere, knocking Meta Knight over and colliding with the cat. The dust cleared to reveal Sonic the Hedgehog, hugging a not-to-happy Blaze the Cat.

"God above, Sonic, stop hugging me!" she complained, trying to push the hedgehog away. Meta Knight pulled himself up.

"A little warning would be nice next time, Speedy Gonzales," he muttered. Sonic stuck his tongue out at him and released his friend. Blaze dusted herself off.

"Come on in," Sonic said. She followed him inside, and Meta Knight closed the door. "This is Falco, and this is Wolf, and you've already met Meta Knight," he said. The three mentioned nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well met," said Blaze. The two walked away as Sonic began introducing her to more people. Falco's face turned to one of disappointment.

"She didn't freak out!" he whined. Meta Knight glared at him.

"You do know that I don't appreciate the fact that you think I'm freaky."

"No offense, but you _are_ kind of creepy," the bird said. This time, the urge was too great. Meta Knight punched Falco and walked away, leaving behind one stunned bird and one snickering wolf.

* * *

Jigglypuff walked up to Zelda, who was sitting with her laptop. "What'cha doin'?" she asked.

"Nothing, really," she replied. "Just looking up some people."

"People like who?" asked Jiggly as she sat down next to her.

"People that Link might want to go to the dance with."

"Ah."

"You see, I kinda felt bad after running off like that on Ike and Link, so Marth and I decided to try and find them dates so they'd stop moping around," the Hyrulian princess said.

"Playing matchmaker?" asked Jigglypuff. "Sounds like something Peach would do, if you ask me." Zelda laughed.

"That is true. Marth persuaded Lady Lyn to ask Ike, so that's taken care of, but I can't think of who Link would go to the dance with." Suddenly, the laptop pinged. Jigglypuff jumped.

"What was that?!"

"Someone just signed in on IM," she replied, chuckling a little bit. "Let's see."

_**twilightprincess07 **_**has signed in**, read the computer screen. "Who's that?" Jiggly asked.

"Just my friend, Midna," Zelda said. Then, it hit her. "Crap, why didn't I see it before?" she said. Quickly, she sent an IM.

**zeeninja64: hey, m!**

**twilightprincess07: zee!!**

Jigglypuff realized what Zelda was thinking. "Would Midna be up for it?"

"Are you kidding me? She adores Link," was the reply. Zelda typed for a little while. Then, Midna asked a question.

**twilightprincess07: hey, anything going on at smash mansion?**

Zelda grinned. Now was her chance. **nothing but a ball,** she typed.

**twilightprincess07: really? fun!!**

**zeeninja64: yep.**

**twilightprincess07: going w/ anyone?**

**zeeninja64: u know marth, right?**

"Hurry up and ask!" Jiggly said impatiently.

"I'm trying, I'm trying, keep your pants on!"

**twilightprincess07: cool!**

**zeeninja64: i know. hey, link doesn't have a date, u know**

**twilightprincess07: i'm listening...**

**zeeninja64: maybe you could, idk, ask him or something?**

The two friends waited anxiously for the reply. After about a minute, the little **twilightprincess07 is typing **box appeared. "I can't stand the suspense!" cried Jiggly. Finally, the answer popped up.

**twilightprincess07: what's his screenname?**

"Yay!" Jigglypuff and Zelda shouted in unison. They started jumping up and down happily. Blaze, who had just walked by, stared at them. Noticing her, Jigglypuff waved. The cat sighed.

"Some people I just don't get," she muttered under her breath as she walked away. Blaze nearly bumped into Peach, who had come dashing down the hallway.

"Oh, sorry!" the princess said happily. Then she ran into the room where Zelda and Jiggly were, smiling the entire time. Blaze sighed again. "Hey, guys!" Peach called. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing!" said Jigglypuff as Zelda quickly typed in Link's screenname and closed the IM before Peach could see. "How about you?"

"Well," she said, "I was wondering if you two would like to help me bake desserts for the ball today. Kirby already said he'd help, but I need to have someone who I can trust not to eat what we're baking."

"I'd like to," Zelda said, "but I need to do something."

Peach was just about to question exactly what that something was when Jiggly butted in, "I will! I love baking!"

"Great!" she replied. "We're going to start in about half an hour, as soon as I get some more supplies. Speaking of which, I'd better get going!" She smiled again and walked away.

"And now I have to get Link to the computer before Midna dies of impatience," the Hyrulian princess said. She closed her laptop and stood up.

"Good luck with that!" Jiggly called, and the two walked in different directions. She smiled. Maybe the ball wasn't such a bad idea as people thought. It was bringing people closer together, and she had made new friends already. "But I still need to find a date!" she cried. "And I'm running out of time!"

* * *

He was bored. Completely and totally bored out of his mind. There was a grand total of exactly nothing to do. Meta Knight sighed. He was never this bored. There was always _something _to do. Watching Snake repeatedly lose to Game & Watch in an arm wrestle wasn't entertaining. Listening to Blue babble on about her "great adventures," yawn. Trying to actually comprehend Ike's T.V. show? Number one, impossible, and number two, dull. Dinner wouldn't be for another hour or so, which left Meta Knight with nothing. Finally through with standing around doing nothing, he decided to head to his room and drown in boredom there instead of in the lounge. He walked down the hallway. A loud explosion made him turn around. It had come from the kitchen.

"There goes dinner," he muttered to himself. He debated between going to see what had just happened and simply forgetting about it and turning back, but his curiosity got the better of him. He went straight for the kitchen.

"Kirby, that wasn't sugar, that was _baking soda!"_

"Oh. That would explain the kaboom." Meta Knight sighed. Kirby in the kitchen? Not the best of ideas. He recognized the other voice as Peach's.

"Exploding cake!" That was Jigglypuff. Meta Knight wondered why those three, of all people, would be in the kitchen baking cake.

_Exploding _cake, to be more precise.

"Well, I'm going to go get a mop," said Peach. She walked out of the room and headed for the closet without even noticing Meta Knight. Jiggly and Kirby began talking.

"Kirby, how do you mix up baking soda with sugar?"

"They're both white, you know! And they're powdery!"

"They're also in labeled packages."

"Um..."

"Never mind," sighed Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff? Are you going to the dance with anyone?" Kirby asked. Outside, Meta Knight decided that it might be a good time to leave, _before_ Jiggly got all dance-hyper.

"No, not yet."

"Would you..." Meta Knight stopped cold. "...like to, I don't know, go...with me?"

"Really? That would be great!"

"You think so?"

His mouth dropped. WHAT? _Kirby _just asked _Jigglypuff _to the _dance?_ Were his ears working right? And she said yes! How? Meta Knight then stopped.

Wait a second. Why was he so shocked? What was the problem with Jigglypuff going with Kirby? Now, she wouldn't be obsessing all the time, and she would be happy and not panicky. That was a good thing! There wasn't any reason to react the way he did. _Unless..._

_Was he...jealous?_

Meta Knight shook the thought out of his mind. "No," he said to himself, "how could I be jealous? It's impossible!" He began to walk back down the hallway. "Me, jealous? No!" He tried to laugh to himself. But for some reason, he found it hard to stop thinking about it, about her.

He _couldn't _be jealous!

Right?

* * *

Okay, before you all get out the torches and pitchforks, listen to what I have to say! Do you think I would do that to poor Meta Knight?

Alright, I just did. _But_ that doesn't prove anything!! Just wait until the next chapter before deciding whether or not to kill me, okay? And please don't take it out on Kirby...poor puffball... Cookies to reviewers!

Ciao, and PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!

-Umbreon Mastah


	5. Rotten Peaches with a Side of Misery

Hello, my friends! It is I, the amazing Umbreon Mastah, just back from my horrid battle with the one known as writer's block!

Blaze: Yes, a horrid battle _indeed..._

Me: Who asked you? And what are you doing here anyway?

Blaze: You promised me cookies if I did the disclaimer, remember?

Me: Ah, yes. Well, this chapter's a bit shorter than last time, sorry. But enjoy! And now, take it away, crazy fire cat!

Blaze: Don't call me that. All characters belong to their respective owners, none of which are Umbreon Mastah. Cookies, please.

Me: (throws Blaze cookies) Read please!

* * *

Jigglypuff was happy. Very happy. Which also translates to "very hyper." For the next few days, all that she thought about was Kirby and the ball. "Jiggly, we get it!" cried Zelda. "You're going to the ball with Kirby!"

"You don't have to retell us fifty million times," muttered Nana under her breath.

"Sorry," the balloon Pokémon said sheepishly, "but I'm so excited!"

"We can tell!" they all yelled. Jiggly shut up then. But soon she was back to her hyper dance state. Samus, who had backed out of the group of girls as soon as they started talking about the dance, sighed. Blaze walked up to her.

"Hey," the cat said.

"Hey," Samus replied.

"Not into the dance stuff?" She shook her head.

"All that this dance is going to result in is broken hearts, crushed friendships, and depression, depression, and more depression."

"Not very optimistic, are you?"

"I find it hard to be optimistic when there's nothing to be optimistic about," said Samus. Blaze looked at her.

"Maybe you could give it a chance," she said. "I did, surprisingly. And I like it here."

"I gave it a chance," she muttered under her breath, "and it blew it. End of story." The cat sighed.

"How so?" Samus then recounted the whole Link-Ike ordeal. "Oh," she said. "But didn't Zelda and Marth pair them up? So everyone's happy, right?"

"Not everyone," Samus said. "Even if that turned out alright, I still have one more broken heart to back me up with."

"And who would that be?" asked Blaze. She leaned against the wall and waited. The bounty hunter checked to make sure that Jiggly was too caught up in her dance fantasies before she continued.

"Meta Knight," she whispered. Blaze raised an eyebrow. "You know how Jiggly's been going on and on and on about Kirby asking her? Well, it's had some seriously nasty side effects."

"I thought that Meta Knight wasn't going to the ball," the cat said.

"That doesn't matter," Samus replied. "Jigglypuff's his best friend. Kirby is his, well, I wouldn't say rival, but let's just say rival anyway. You do the math," she finished.

"Maybe he's just being a bit...protective?" Blaze offered.

"Have you seen him?" Thinking back, the cat shook her head no. "Precisely," said Samus. "Besides for meals, he's barely come out of his room. I would call that _depressed._" Sighing, Blaze gave in.

"Alright, maybe Meta Knight isn't exactly having the time of his life with this dance. But that doesn't mean other people aren't!" she protested. "It would be, dare I say it, more _fun_ is you were there." She paused. "You should know," she said, "that it takes a lot for me to consider something fun." Samus seemed to consider it, but she shook her head again.

"No," she said. "I'm still not going." At that moment, Wolf and Fox walked by. Wolf glanced over at Samus, then looked away sadly. Blaze noted this with interest.

"Well, I see that I can't force you," she said finally. "But bear in mind," the cat said, "Jigglypuff might not be the only one breaking hearts in the Smash Mansion." With that, she turned and walked away.

* * *

Meta Knight sat on his bed. Alright. He was through with this. He was going to stand up, go out there, and not let any of this bother him anymore. He let out a deep breath, stood up, and walked toward the door. No sooner had he put his hand on the knob did he stop. For the fifteenth time.

Fifteen times he had walked over to that door and stopped. The other five hundred times, he hadn't even made it that far.

Why couldn't he open the door? Meta sighed and walked back to his bed. He lay down. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this? Of course, he wouldn't exactly call himself the most social of Smashers, but...not coming out of his room for three days? Meta Knight sat up.

He had to figure out what the heck was going on. Right now.

At that moment, a little thought bubble popped into his mind. _You _are_ jealous, aren't you?_ Quickly, Meta Knight swatted the bubble away.

"I am _not _jealous!" he said finally. "It's simply not a possibility. Why would I be jealous?" Jealous, ha! Jealous of who, _Kirby?_ Kirby was a pink, accident-prone, gluttonous puffball with no brain. Simply put: _lower life form._

Although...he was a lower life form _who was taking Jigglypuff to the dance..._

Suddenly, the door opened. Meta Knight jumped. Jigglypuff peeked her head in. "Meta Knight?" she asked. "What are you doing in here? It's the middle of the afternoon!"

"I...um..." Uh oh. He had to think fast. "I'm...I haven't been feeling too well," he said quickly.

"Oh, really?" Jiggly frowned. "That stinks. Do you want me to get you a drink or something?"

"No, I'm fine," Meta said. "I'm just...going to rest a little bit..."

"Okay!" said Jiggly. "I'll make sure no one disturbs you!" With that, she closed the door quietly and walked down the hallway.

"Um...thanks...," he muttered. Sighing, he lay back down and looked up at the ceiling. Was he really jealous because Jiggly was going to the ball with Kirby? Why? Meta thought about sitting up again. Maybe if he got out of the dark, small room, he'd feel better.

Then again, it would be much less tiring if he just stayed and drowned in misery. No one would notice, anyway.

* * *

So.

Kirby was going with Jigglypuff? What was the world coming to?

When Jigglypuff had announced to the world (and she had announced it multiple times, _believe me_) that Kirby was her date, Peach had to admit that she was shocked. Plain out, completely, totally, and utterly shocked. So shocked, she nearly lost her happy-go-lucky attitude. Note the _nearly._ Nonetheless, Peach was concerned. How could Jigglypuff be so naïve, so stupid, so blind? Just that morning, she and Meta Knight had watched a flippin' _sunrise _together! Had she forgotten? _How could she have forgotten?!_

One thing people should know about Peach is that she needs everything to be _perfect._ Perfect in every sense of the word. Perfect in _her_ sense of the word. And Kirby and Jigglypuff going together fit nowhere in her perfect plan. So far, everything had gone _nearly_ perfect. Toon Link and Nana were going together, just as she had planned. Marth and Zelda were a pair, also perfect. Samus...well, she still had to work out that little kink. There was enough time for that. But Jiggly had gone and wrecked the perfection. And now it was Peach's job to pick up the pieces, glue them all back together, _and_ choose a date for both her and Samus before time ran out.

But it wasn't _all_ Jiggly's fault. Meta Knight should have acted faster. Kirby should have butted out of it. Why couldn't anyone else see the perfect plan she had created? Was the entire world working against her?

Peach sighed, quite out of character for her. She was alone in the Brawl Controls Area. The Smashers took turns working in there, controlling the different aspects of the brawls that they competed in. She watched without enthusiasm as Sonic and Olimar finished a brawl on Yoshi's Island. Why was she here? It was her shift, she knew that, but she couldn't waste her time with that now! She had a couple to break up and three to create! The Mushroom Kingdom princess tapped her fingers impatiently. The next two fighters, ready to brawl in half an hour, caught her eye.

_Kirby versus Bowser._

A light went on in Peach's head. She glanced deviously at the pain simulation button. If her perfection was to come about, measures had to be taken.

_Drastic _measures had to be taken.

* * *

It was just after dinner in the Smash Mansion, which is usually the most peaceful time seeing as everyone is stuffed full of food. Kirby and Bowser had just gone out to brawl, but only a few of the Smashers went to watch them. Most of the others were just too lazy to do anything. Meta Knight, who had barely eaten his dinner and was therefore not lazy in the slightest, decided to, again, make a one-man dash for his room. Unfortunately, he was stopped just before he reached the hallway by none other than Wolf.

"Hey, um, Meta Knight? Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"You just did," Meta sighed, "but what is it?"

"Well," he started. "I don't really know who else to ask, and since you aren't an idiot like most of these people are, maybe you can help me."

"What's the question?" he asked again, growing impatient.

"It's, er, kinda about the ball." Meta Knight narrowed his eyes.

"Sorry, can't help you," he said, starting to turn to the hallway.

"No, please!" Wolf cried, grabbing Meta Knight to stop him. "I'm desperate here!" Meta glanced at him.

"Fine," he muttered. "But can we just get to the question already?" Wolf nodded eagerly.

"Well," he said, "let's set up a hypothetical situation here."

"Oh boy."

"Hypothetically, let's say there's this hypothetical guy who likes this hypothetical girl and wants to ask her to this hypothetical dance, but the hypothetical girl doesn't want anything to hypothetically do with the hypothetical dance. So how does the hypothetical guy ask the hypothetical girl to the hypothetical dance without getting hypothetically punched into the wall, hypothetically speaking?" Meta Knight simply looked at him for a moment.

"There were more hypotheticals in that sentence than I could possibly comprehend," he said finally. Wolf hit his head in aggravation.

"God above! I want to ask Samus to the dance, darn it! How am I going to do that?!" Every head in the room turned his way. It was _very_ fortunate for Wolf that Samus had been one of the people who had left to watch the brawl. "Um...hi, everybody...," he said quietly. Meta sighed and pulled Wolf out into the hallway.

"Nothing to see here, folks..." He turned to the Star Wolf commander. "Yell that a little louder," he said, "I don't think the people in Kentucky could hear it."

"Forget the Kentuckians! Can you help me?" Wolf asked pleadingly.

"How about you just ask her?"

"Are you crazy? Didn't you hear the 'without getting hypothetically punched into the wall' part?"

"Why are you asking me this anyway?" asked Meta Knight. "I'm not exactly the dance expert. Note that I'm _not going._" Wolf sighed.

"You don't have _any_ advice?" he asked in desperation. "None at all?"

"None at all," he said. Wolf was opened his mouth to say something, but he was rudely interrupted.

"Guys!" cried Samus. The two looked at her and blinked. A slight blush crossed Wolf's face.

"Samus!" he said. "How...how much did you...I mean, weren't you watching Kirby and Bowser?"

"I was!" the bounty hunter said. "And there's trouble! Something horrible has happened!"

* * *

GASP! I did I cliffhanger? Evil me!

Blaze: (is chomping down on her cookies) Yum...

Me: What she meant to say was, R&R please! Oh, yeah! Before I forget... If anyone writes a fanfic with MetaxJiggly as one of the pairings, PM me and tell me the name of the story, and I WILL leave a review! Thank you!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	6. Ah, Panic, We Meet Again

Yes, my friends, I have updated!! Hooray! Sorry it took longer than expected! But to the chapter! And for our disclaimer, the man...er, puffball of the hour, Kirby!

Kirby: Um...UM doesn't own anything besides the fic itself. All other characters belong to their respective owners.

Me: Good job, Kirby. Here you are, a cookie. (tosses cookie)

Kirby: Yum, I love cookies! (chomps down on cookie) Read the chapter, people!!

* * *

"What happened?" asked Meta Knight anxiously. Accidents during brawls were few and far between; if anything went wrong, more often than not it was _on purpose_.

"Kirby's in the infirmary, that's what happened!" Samus cried.

"WHAT?!" Meta Knight was not the only one to shout this. Everyone in the other room had now stuck their heads out in shock. Jigglypuff looked the most shocked of all.

"Why?!" she cried. "How could that happen?"

"Yeah, what about pain simulation?" asked Falco. Samus shook her head.

"Something must have gone wrong!" she said. "Master Hand sent me to tell everyone!" She looked back down the hallway. "I'd better get back," she said. "Peach and Zelda might need help."

"I'm coming with you!" said Jigglypuff. Wolf nodded to say that he was coming, too.

"I am, too," Meta said. As much as he was not in a good mood with Kirby right now, he was still worried about the poor puffball. _What could have happened? _The group dashed down the hall to the infirmary. Master Hand and Bowser were waiting outside.

"We might have a problem here," said the Hand. Bowser looked down at the ground.

"I'd used that move a million freakin' times before," he muttered. "It never did anything like this..."

"Like what?" asked Wolf. Zelda popped her head out.

"You were right, Master Hand," she said unhappily. "I can't see how it happened but...Kirby..."

"He's not dead, is he?!" Jiggly cried. Master Hand shook his...um, hand...

"No, thankfully not," he said. "Although he might have been if that brawl went on any longer."

"Why, what happened?" asked Meta Knight, seeing as Jigglypuff was still in too much of a panic to do anything besides question Kirby's death.

"It started just like a regular Brawl," Bowser answered for Master. "We had just begun fighting, and then I used my Bowser Bomb, you know, like I usually do?" His voice was unnaturally shaky. "Well, I landed on Kirby, like, almost dead-on, and then...then I could have sworn I heard something crack."

"Something...crack?" Wolf asked. The Koopa nodded.

"Kirby shouted in pain, and then I got off him, but he...he wasn't moving. He was trying, but he couldn't get up! Then Master Hand suddenly stopped the brawl, and I realized that Kirby was... He was bleeding!" Mouths dropped here.

"Bleeding?!" cried Jiggly. "But how?"

"I thought the pain simulators made it impossible for anyone to truly get hurt!" Meta Knight said. At that moment, Marth ran up to them.

"I checked, Master Hand," he said. "The pain simulator button was switched to off!"

Oh. That would explain a lot.

"Whose shift was it?" asked Master Hand, his voice taking a deadly tone. Marth shrugged.

"It was Peach's," Zelda said. Peach, who was in the infirmary, looked up at her name.

"Uh oh," she said quietly. Master Hand glared at her. Well, not really glared, but you got the vibe of it. "Okay, okay, I went out to get coffee for one second!" she said. "Someone must have come in and switched it then!"

"Maybe... Could you have pushed it accidentally?" Marth asked.

"There's a huge red sticker next to it that says 'Do Not Touch'," said Wolf. "I think it might be kinda hard to push it accidentally."

"Still, this _is_ Peach we're talking about," Samus muttered, too quietly for anyone to hear. Master Hand clenched himself into a fist.

"We need to find out how this happened," he said. "No more brawls until we figure it out. Everyone," said the Hand suspiciously, "is a suspect."

"Um...can we just see what happened to Kirby?!" cried Jiggly. Zelda looked down.

"Broken leg, broken collarbone, and a concussion," she muttered. "He won't be able to get out of bed for a while..."

"WHAT?!"

"That's impossible!"

"I don't believe it!"

"I'm never using that move again!" Bowser looked away from the group. "This is just perfect. Wonderful. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Master Hand nodded, and the Koopa walked away sadly.

"Aw, great, now Bowser feels like a piece of crap," muttered Wolf. Meta sighed. Well, this _was_ just perfect. He looked in at Kirby. The puffball was all bandaged up and was lying on the bed, asleep (although comatose might be a better description...). Suddenly, he realized something. Kirby wasn't going to be able to get out of bed for a while... Jigglypuff was going to the ball with Kirby... If Kirby couldn't get up...

Jiggly must have realized that same exact thing. Her eyes went wide. "How long will he have to be in here?" she asked nervously. Zelda looked to Peach.

"If he was almost anyone else," the Mushroom Kingdom princess said, "he'd probably be out in a few days. But because of his body shape, he'll most likely be in for longer." She paused for a second. "He won't be able to go to the ball," she finished sadly.

If you had some kind of sick, wrong sense of humor (looking at you, Snake and Ganondorf), you probably would have laughed at Jiggly's face right then. Eyes wide, pupils microscopic, mouth wide open. It was plain to see what she was thinking.

_Oh. Crap._

Meta Knight sighed again. Things were probably going to get a lot more panicky from here on out.

* * *

It was late that night, and Jigglypuff was in the kitchen. Why? She was inhaling ice cream to try to calm her nerves. The brain freeze wasn't helping very much, but she kept eating anyway.

This was not good. There were four, count 'em, four days until the ball. Four. And she was dateless. Jiggly sighed as she plopped another spoonful of mint chocolate chip into her mouth. Who could she ask? Pretty much every guy in the mansion already had a date. She didn't know anyone from outside Smash Mansion that would actually go with her. Basically, she was sunk. Jigglypuff dug her spoon into the tub again to find that she was all out. She threw it away and opened the freezer to get another gallon. When she looked inside, there was nothing. Great, she had eaten all of the ice cream.

The other Smashers weren't going to be too happy.

She closed the freezer slowly. Why wasn't she all sugar-hyped like she normally was after she ate a lot of ice cream? There were probably about ten gallons of ice cream in there. Yet she felt like she was about to collapse. Something was definitely wrong with her.

Jiggly decided that she was going to go to bed. Tomorrow, she'd go on a massive asking spree. Maybe she'd find _someone _who felt sorry enough for her to take her to the dance. She trudged down the hall to her room, opening the door quietly. The balloon Pokémon peeked in. Good. Meta Knight was asleep. She was surprised he hadn't woken up at the sound of the door, seeing as he could be a very light sleeper when she didn't want him to be, but the day _had _been rather hectic. Jiggly crept into the room and sat on her bed. She looked at the sleeping Meta Knight. _Lucky,_ she thought. _He doesn't have to go through any of this. He was smart, backing out of this while he still could._ She sighed and looked down. There was probably no chance of finding a date this close to the dance. And Peach was probably going to make her go anyway.

Suddenly, Jiggly let out a very large yawn. She quickly closed her mouth. "Maybe it's time to go to sleep," she said quietly. She lay down and pulled the covers up. The balloon Pokémon took one last look at Meta Knight. For some reason, she felt a smile creep onto her face.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

* * *

Meta Knight woke up early that morning. He looked at the clock.

Five in the morning. Since when did he get up _this_ early?

Meta sighed. Well, he wasn't going to be able fall asleep again, so he figured he'd get up. He looked over at Jigglypuff, who was still sleeping soundly. He felt sorry for her. The poor puffball had been on cloud nine, and then everything had come crashing down. And the ball was a mere four days away, counting today. Meta got out of bed and walked over to her. During her sleep, the balloon Pokémon had somehow managed to push the covers off of her. She seemed to be shivering a little. Meta Knight gently pulled them back over her and smiled. Then he walked out into the silent hallway, thoughts of the ball still in his head.

He should probably be relishing the silence, seeing as Jigglypuff was most likely going to be in total panic as soon as she got up. Who could have turned off the pain simulation? Maybe it was someone who hated Kirby...but who did? The pink puffball was considered adorable by nearly everyone, if not a bit annoying. But no one _hated _him. Meta Knight sighed. The mystery would have to be revealed later. He was hungry.

Meta walked into the kitchen. He took out a bagel from the cupboard and grabbed a cup of decaf from the Smashers' coffee machine. He took a straw from the dispenser next to it. Yes, he drank coffee with a straw. He drank everything with a straw. It was easy to pop under his mask, so he didn't need to take it off to drink anything. Once, Meta only drank with a straw when the other Smashers were around, but that changed one night when Ness walked in on him while he was drinking a glass of milk. He had threatened...er, _convinced_ the boy that telling anyone what he looked like underneath the mask could quite possibly result in a untimely demise, so that was taken care of. But Meta Knight never took his mask off unless he was in a private place with a locked door ever again.

He was half finished his coffee when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. See, _this _was why he didn't take off his mask. He looked up to see Samus, still in her pajamas. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning," she replied, by now used to the sight of Meta Knight drinking coffee with a yellow bendy straw. "How long have you been up?"

"All of five minutes," said Meta.

"Is anyone else up?" the bounty hunter asked. He shook his head.

"Not that I know of."

"Good, then I have a question," she said. Meta looked at her.

"Does this involve hypothetical situations of any kind?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, just ask the question." Samus took a deep breath.

"What were you and Wolf talking about yesterday that made him start to panic as soon as I showed up?" Meta froze. Exactly _how_ was he supposed to answer that?

"Um...he asked me a question...," he started. She raised an eyebrow. "...about the ball...," he continued, hoping that that would satisfy her. She didn't look satisfied. "...about who to go with..." Maybe if he implied it, but didn't technically tell her, Wolf wouldn't kill him. However, Samus didn't seem to be getting it.

"And he was panicking _why?"_

"And I thought you were one of the smarter people here," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Meta glanced back and forth. He was going to have to say something eventually. But what could he say? "He asked me how to ask someone he liked to the ball," he said.

"You're repeating yourself now," Samus said cynically. Meta Knight narrowed his eyes. What did he have to do to drill this into her brain? "Are you hiding something?" she asked. "You're being awfully mysterious, even for you."

"Well, I'm sorry that, contrary to common belief, I really would _not_ enjoy getting beaten to a bloody pulp by Wolf because I told you that he wants to take you to the ball!" Meta instantly shut his mouth. Crap. He really needed to work on his reactions when it came to stereotyping. The bounty hunter simply looked at him, her mouth slightly open.

"Wait," she said at last, "he _what?"_

"Um..." _Great job, Meta Knight. Wonderful job._ Well, there was nothing left to do but continue what he started. "He wants to go with the dance with you, alright? But whatever you do, you didn't hear that from me. Got it?" he said. Samus nodded, still in shock. "Good." Meta turned to walk down the hall. And, of course, as soon as he turned the corner, he ran into the person that he least wanted to see at the moment. "Um...morning, Wolf!" he said nervously. The look on the Star Wolf commander's face confirmed the fact that he had heard everything. Meta was at a loss for what to do, so he did quite possibly the most uncharacteristic thing he had ever done.

"Wolf, Samus wants to talk to you, okay? Bye!" He pushed Wolf into the room and dashed down the hallway, glancing back and hoping that his pitiful matchmaker attempt didn't result in horrible pain later on that day.

And people asked him why he didn't get involved in this kind of stuff.

* * *

There you go, peoples! Sorry if it was a little short. And, before I forget, I have now started a Meta KnightxJigglypuff army! Which is basically a group of supporters of MetaxJiggly, except I give out cookies to everyone! PM me if you want to join! See you next update, and cookies to all reviewers!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	7. Somebody to Love

WHOA this chapter's long! Wow...just over nine pages on Word...geez...

Well, enough of my shock. Here it is, like I said, the longest chapter ever!! Enjoy! And for our disclaimer today, Bowser!

Bowser: Yeah... All characters belong to their rightful owners...meaning, not UM here.

Me: Read, please!

* * *

Most people, when they open the door to see a hyperactive ball of pink running around nonstop, a masked warrior desperately trying to steer clear of a humanoid wolf, and a princess with a huge, oblivious grin on her face, among other things, would immediately slam the door shut and head for the hills. Midna was not most people.

"Um, hello?" she asked, stepping in cautiously. She jumped back as a blue blur, pursued by a small turtle-like thing, dashed past her. "Watch it!" she shouted, only to be nearly plowed over by a yellow rat, who was apparently chasing the turtle-thing. Midna shook the shock away, picked herself up, and, this time, looked carefully to make sure nothing else was going to attack her. Seeing no one, she walked further into the mansion. She twirled her red hair nervously and again called out, "Hello?" This time, someone answered.

"Are you looking for someone?" Midna looked down to see a short, er, puffball kind of thing wearing a mask and a cape.

"Um, yes," she said. "Do you know where Link is?" He pointed down the hallway towards the lounge, where the buzzing of a T.V. could be heard. "Thanks. I'm Midna, by the way."

"Meta Knight. Nice to meet you."

"Same here, Meta Knight." Midna walked by him and headed for the lounge. She walked past a wolf, who seemed to be looking for someone. "Hello," she said. The wolf looked up.

"Oh, hey. Guest of someone's, I suppose?" he asked. She nodded. "Welcome to Smash Mansion! I'm Wolf. Hey, have you seen a guy about yay big..." He lowered his hand to about half his height. "...wearing a metal mask and a purple cape? Kinda gives off a creepy vibe?"

"Oh, you mean Meta Knight?" she asked. "He's right..." Midna turned to find that the Star Warrior had disappeared. "...here... Are things usually this weird here?"

"Trust me," said Wolf, "this is actually one of our _good_ mornings." The twilight princess shuddered at the thought of what a bad morning was. "Well, I'd better go find Meta Knight. See ya round...um..."

"Midna," she finished. Wolf nodded, then walked down the hallway. Midna kept walking towards the lounge, this time with no further interruptions, except for when she was nearly run over (again), this time by a rather short little man chasing tiny plant-like creatures. She sighed. How did Link and Zelda stand living here? Finally, she made it to the room. Poking her head in, the twilight princess saw Meta Knight sitting on one of the chairs. "How did you-?"

"Dimensional cape," he said. Midna was about to question how exactly that worked, but she stopped herself. She didn't want more of a headache than she already had.

"Hey, some guy named Wolf is looking for you," she said instead.

"I know."

"Are you going to go find him?" Meta looked at her like she was crazy. "I'll take that as a no," she muttered, not pressing it any further. Again, making the headache grow wouldn't be a good thing. Then, Midna finally saw someone she recognized. "Link!" she cried. The Hero of Light looked up from the T.V. screen.

"Midna! Hey!" he said, getting up from the sofa and embracing her. Zelda, who had also been sitting on the sofa, also got up and gave her friend a hug.

"Long time no see," the Hyrulian princess said. "You're still as pale as ever."

"Um, _Twilight _Realm, remember? Not 'Happy-Sunshine-Let's-Get-A-Tan' Realm." The three friends laughed together. Midna was happy that she was here, seeing her friends again.

Seeing Link again.

She smiled. She had taken a liking to Link ever since she had found him, trapped in his wolf form. She had been trapped in her own curse back then, too. Strange how similarities brought people together. Midna looked at Link, who had now taken his seat back. She sat down, too. He only thought that he was taking her as a friend. She was aiming to change that. Midna loved the way Link would look at Zelda, after they had saved her. The look in his eyes said that he would never leave, would always protect her. And Midna wanted him to look at her like that, too. She sighed softly and turned away. She was going to win his heart, no matter what.

As crazy as life seemed to be at Smash Mansion, she was happy she came.

* * *

She didn't believe it.

_She,_ of all people! Was she, Princess Peach Toadstool, developing a conscience?

_No,_ she thought, sipping her lemonade (pink, of course). _Of course not! What I did was for the good of Meta Knight and Jigglypuff! No one died!_ Peach looked up and across from the table that she was sitting at. She was outside, in one of the gardens, where she had set up a few café-style tables and chairs one day. There were a few other people outside, too. But the one particular person she was looking at was none other than Bowser Koopa. He had been in a depressed kind of mood all day, always looking down, quiet. The poor Koopa thought that it was all his fault. _Maybe..._

_Maybe it was because it was what she did made Bowser unhappy that she felt so...what was the word? Guilty!_

Peach twirled her straw, making the ice cubes clink against the glass. She had never felt..._guilty_ (oh, how she hated that word!) about the things she had done before! Why did Bowser make this different? He looked up at her and gave her a small smile, then his eyes returned to the ground. Something about that smile...why did it make her feel happy, yet kind of sad, kind of longing, at the same time? Like she wanted to just reach out and give him a hug?

She must have been really out of it, because she jumped fifteen feet when Samus's voice pulled her back into reality. "Hey, Peach, you okay?" she asked. The Mushroom Kingdom princess looked at her.

"I'm fine, you just scared me a little!" she laughed. "What's up, Sam?" Instantly she regretted saying that, as Samus hated being called Sam, but the bounty hunter didn't give her a death glare or anything. Strange...

"You can't bug me about the ball anymore," she said, smirking a little bit. Oh, that was right! She still had to force Samus to go the ball!

"Oh?" she said, giving Samus a small smirk of her own. "And why is that?" Samus placed her hands on the table and leaned forward. A huge grin appeared on her face.

"'Cause I'm going with Wolf!" Peach's eyes went wide. Did she just say what she thought she said?

"...what have you done with Samus Aran?" she said at last. Samus laughed.

"Seriously, Peach, he asked me this morning!" the bounty hunter said, standing back up. "So now, like I said, you can't bug me about the ball anymore! Just wanted to make sure you knew!" Then, out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted Blaze. "See ya, Peach! Hey, Blaze, guess what?" Samus ran off to talk to the fire cat, leaving Peach alone in astonishment. Samus had actually worked with her! She had a _date!_ Peach smiled again. Less work for her, then. She had a feeling that good old Sam would pull through, anyway.

But then, her attention turned to Bowser again. Why? Why did she feel so bad? It wasn't like her, but she...she wanted to make it up to him somehow. After all, it _was_ her fault... But what?

Bowser looked up and smiled again. His face turned a bit red, and he looked away. Peach, too, felt her face going a little red. Maybe...maybe if Samus could do it...

She got up and pushed in her chair. Hiding her sudden nervousness, she walked over to Bowser. "Hey, um, Bowser?"

"Yeah, Peach?" The Koopa's face went redder still. "What is it?"

"Remember what you asked me a while ago?" she asked. Bowser looked at her.

"About the ball?" he asked. "If you...er...wanted to go with me?" Peach glanced away from him for a second. Keeping eye contact with his now-bright, hopeful eyes would probably make her make a tomato look pale.

"Yeah, well, about that...," she started. Eye contact or not, it didn't make a difference. Her face was now bright red. "I...I decided...that...I, um..." She was definitely straying from her usual happy-go-lucky Peach attitude now. "...want to go with you," the princess said finally, her eyes completely to the ground. Bowser, however, looked in total shock.

"You...you actually w-want to go with me?" he stuttered. "Not Mario?" Peach felt a smile forming on her face.

"You mean Sir Eats-a-lot?" she said, chuckling. Bowser looked at her. He had never heard Peach insult Mario before. Was she actually being serious? "He wasn't going to ask me, anyway. And I thought I'd, I don't know, have more fun with you... Going with Mario would probably mean an entire ball spent at the buffet table," she said. The Koopa had to agree, of course, but he was still shocked. He managed a small smile.

"Alright then," he said. "I can't wait."

"Me either!" said Peach. She giggled. Well, that was easier than she thought! Feeling rather daring, she wrapped her arms around Bowser and gave him a huge hug. "Thanks!" she said, running off and leaving an even more shocked Koopa. Peach grabbed her lemonade and dashed inside. For now, she could think of nothing else but her and Bowser and the ball. Now that she had a date, she could move on to her favorite part.

Dress-shopping.

* * *

Jigglypuff was exhausted. She had been asking all morning, and still no one had agreed to take her to the dance. There had to be someone left to ask. Ganondorf had said no, Falco had said never, King Dedede had said he'd rather choke on a rock, Mr. Game and Watch...well...

_Jigglypuff dashed up to the two dimensional man. "Hey, Game and Watch?" she asked, somewhat desperately. "Do you have a date for the ball?" Game and Watch looked at her, then beeped three times. Jiggly cocked her head. It didn't help that she couldn't speak beep._

_"He said he can't," said R.O.B., who had just rolled up to them. The robot was Game and Watch's main translator._

_"Oh," she sighed. "You already have a date?" Game and Watch shook his head. "Then what?" she asked. He beeped._

_"He has a job as a bathroom attendant," the robot translated._

_"A bathroom attendant. Of all the things...," muttered Jiggly. Then she looked to R.O.B. "Do you have a date, then?"_

_"I, too, have a job as a bathroom attendant." The balloon Pokémon looked at him._

_"Are you serious?" she asked. He nodded. "How many bathroom attendants do you need for one bathroom?"_

_"Oh, one. We're each in the separate bathrooms," said R.O.B., as if it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_"You're both guys," Jiggly pointed out. R.O.B. suddenly turned quiet. He turned to Game and Watch._

_"It appears we have a problem, friend," he said. "Apparently, I am not allowed to enter the bathroom I am attending." Game and Watch beeped. The robot glared at him. "What do you mean, 'Stay out of my bathroom or die a horrible death, Robo-freak'?" The other started to beep angrily, and R.O.B. started to yell even louder. Jigglypuff quickly snuck away, hoping to never be a part of a conversation like that again..._

Jigglypuff shuddered at the memory. But now wasn't the time to be stopping to think. There was asking to do. She looked around, hoping to see someone without a date, or a bathroom attending job of any kind. Most of the people in the lounge already had dates. But then, she spotted a beaten cardboard box, sitting innocently in a corner. _Stupid Snake,_ she thought. _Hasn't he realized by now that the cardboard box trick never works on anyone? _The puffball walked over to the box. She heard a few beeps from inside. _Hey, Snake doesn't have a date, does he? And he probably won't get one, so maybe..._ Snake didn't seem like the most usual of dates, especially for Jigglypuff, but right now, she wasn't going to be picky. She lifted the box up.

Solid Snake, suddenly realizing that his box haven was gone, put down his codec and glared at her. "What do you want?" he asked, irritated. Jiggly bit the inside of her cheek. She was having second thoughts about this now. But she asked anyway.

"Um, Snake, do you have a date yet?" she asked nervously.

"Why'd _you _like to know, Puff?" he retorted. Jiggly's face went red with anger. She _really_ hated it when people called her Puff. And Snake knew it.

"I kinda need one, in case you didn't know," she said. Maybe she shouldn't be asking him, but she was down to pretty much her last resort here. Snake looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was really being serious here. Then, he burst out laughing.

"Wait, _you're _asking _me?"_ he managed to choke out. "Ahaha, that's a good one! That's almost as funny as when Otacon ate thirty-seven cookies and had an allergic reaction!" He kept laughing as Jiggly's face grew redder and redder.

"What's so funny?!" she shouted. Pretty much everyone in the lounge was staring at them now. So much for not making a spectacle of things...

"You seriously aren't joking?" asked the mercenary, wiping some of the tears from his eyes. Jigglypuff gave him a look that said, _Yes, you moron, I'm serious._ He stopped laughing for a second, thought a moment, then started laughing all over again. Neither one of them noticed the codec beep a message: _signal found._

"Stop it!" Jigglypuff glared at him. Snake, of course, didn't listen, and continued to laugh like a lunatic. "I'm taking that your answer is a no, then." Now, he stopped.

"You thought that I was going to say yes?"

"Well, I was hoping _someone _would," sighed Jiggly. Snake looked at her.

"How many people did you ask?" When she started to count, he made her stop before his headache grew.

"And they all said no!" she cried. At that, the mercenary started to chuckle a little. "I _still_ don't see what's so funny!"

"What's _funny,"_ he said, "is the fact that you're completely oblivious!" Jiggly blinked, which pretty much proved Snake's point.

"Oblivious to what?" she asked. Snake sighed.

"Why do you think everyone's rejecting you, Puff?"

"They...all already have dates?" the balloon Pokémon offered. This time, the mercenary slapped his head.

"_No,_ fluff-for-brains! _No!"_ he nearly cried. "It's because they don't _want_ to go with you! And _that's_ what's so funny!" Now, Jigglypuff's face went a deeper, angrier red than most people would think possible.

"That's not true!" She began to puff up slightly. "I'm sure they all have perfectly good explanations!"

"The perfectly good explanation is that no one would take you to the ball in a million years," he said, crossing his arms. "You're an annoying, hyperactive puffball who doesn't give a care about anyone else, since you're too busy trying to find yourself a date!" Jiggly began to puff up more. "Next to that, you're a pest, an idiot, and a panicky whiner. You're basically what everyone _doesn't_ want in a date," said Snake. "And yet, you keep asking anyway. Sometimes, I don't get you idiotic people." Jigglypuff had now inflated herself to about her limit. But then, something hit her. She deflated almost as quickly as she had inflated.

She _was_ annoying. She _was_ being selfish, and panicky, and hyper, and everything Snake had said. She was driving everyone insane, all because of some stupid ball. Jiggly looked down. Maybe she didn't deserve a date after all. Tears started to form in her eyes. Snake looked at her. "Hey, Puff? You gonna be alright? I mean, the truth hurts, but..."

"Am I going to be _alright?!"_ she cried, looking up at him. "No! I'm _not _going to be alright! How can I be _alright_ if I'm already a stupid, selfish jerk?! You're right, I shouldn't even be trying!" The tears started to run down her face now. "Just...just leave me alone!" she shouted, pushing past the mercenary and running down the hallway. She kept running until she reached her room, not even bothering to watch where she was going. The balloon Pokémon opened the door, dashed inside, and then slammed it so hard that it could be heard across the mansion. She collapsed on her bed, crying hysterically. Stupid Snake, stupid ball, stupid her...

Stupid everything...

* * *

In the time he had known her, Meta Knight had seen Jigglypuff pout, whine, puff up, and maybe even sniffle a little bit. But never, ever, had he seen her nearly burst into tears.

He also had never, ever felt such a great urge to beat Snake into a bloody pulp before.

But, more than that, he felt plain horrible. He had seen Snake and Jigglypuff arguing. It was basically common knowledge that arguing with Snake wouldn't end well. So why hadn't he done something? Break it up, back her up, _something!_ But, no, he'd sat back and not gotten involved.

Bad things always seemed to happen when he did that.

Meta looked over at Snake and couldn't help but wince. It seemed like there wasn't going to be much of him left to beat into a bloody pulp. Every female Smasher in the room had run over and started beating the mercenary over the head with anything they could find (and the guys were taping this for future blackmailing opportunities). Above the noise, an unfamiliar voice could be heard. It seemed to be coming from Snake's codec.

"And if you think I'm taking you to this ball, Solid Snake, you are _so_ wrong!"

The Star Warrior decided not to think about that too much. Right now, he had a best friend to attend to. Meta got up and walked out into the hallway, but not before giving Snake a final glare. He started down the hallway. It wasn't long before he ran into Blaze, who was leaning against the wall like she didn't care about anything. She looked up at him.

"She went that way," was all she said, pointing down toward Jiggly and Meta's room. He didn't ask how she knew that he was looking for Jigglypuff, instead nodding as thanks and heading for the room.

He heard her before he even saw the door. Loud sobs echoed down the hall from the room. Meta sighed and walked up to the door. He stopped. What was he doing? He had no idea how to comfort a hysterical girl! He would probably make it worse by trying.

But as he listened to the crying from the other side of the door, he couldn't turn away. He couldn't leave her there. It would prove that he was just as cold and uncaring as people thought he was. So, even though he had a _really_ bad feeling that this was going to end in disaster, Meta Knight knocked.

"GO AWAY!"

Meta flinched. Well, his ears certainly enjoyed that. "Jigglypuff, it's me," he said. The sobbing seemed to soften a little.

"Meta? Oh..."

"Can I come in?"

"...I guess," was the reply. Gently, Meta Knight opened the door. He stepped inside. There was Jigglypuff, sitting on her bed, her face stained with tears. "H-hey, Meta Knight," she sniffed, trying to hold back any tears she had left.

"Jigglypuff," he sighed, walking over to her. He sat down next to her on the bed. "You know," he said, "you really shouldn't take Snake seriously." Jiggly looked at him, then looked away again.

"He's right, though," she said quietly. "I'm hyperactive, and annoying, and..."

"Jigglypuff?" Meta cut in. She looked at him again. "Stop beating yourself up. Who cares if you're a bit energetic sometimes?"

"Mostly everyone," she muttered.

"Oh really?"

"Everyone yells at me, and I don't listen. I keep talking and talking and talking and..." She stopped. "See, I was just doing it." Meta sighed.

"You're not annoying, Jiggly," he said.

"You're just lying to make me feel better," Jiggly sniffed, turning away. She turned back when she felt Meta Knight's hand on her arm.

"Jigglypuff," he asked, "would I lie to you?" She shook her head, tears starting to come to her eyes again. "See? There's nothing wrong with you. You're good the way you are. Perfect."

"But...but no one wants to take me to the ball. I'm not perfect at all," she said quietly. The tears started to trickle down her face. "I'm...I'm just..." Her words started to get quieter as she tried unsuccessfully to choke back her tears. Eventually, she just stopped trying and broke down. Meta Knight looked at her, then, almost instinctively, wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Jiggly looked up at him, somewhat shocked, but snuggled closer to him anyway.

"Jiggly," Meta sighed quietly, holding her tighter. "It's alright," he said. This wasn't turning out exactly the way he had planned. He had no idea what to do, so he just kept hugging her as she kept crying. There had to be something...something he could do... Then, another one of those little thought bubbles of his popped up. But this time, he didn't swat it away.

This time, despite how crazy it seemed, he listened.

"Jigglypuff?" he asked. She looked at him, still crying. "Do you...want to go to the ball with me?" Oh my god, he said it. He was shocked. He said it! Jiggly seemed shocked as well.

"But...," she stuttered, "you...you didn't want to go! You said...you said that..." Meta Knight held his hand up to her mouth.

"It's a yes-or-no question," he said. _And, please, answer it before I realize what I'm doing._ He took his hand away, gently brushing her cheek. Jigglypuff thought for a moment. She snuggled in even closer.

"...yes," she said, barely a whisper. She closed her eyes and smiled. She was still crying, but now, they were tears of joy. Maybe...she didn't have to be perfect... "Meta?" she asked.

"Yes, Jigglypuff?" Her smile grew.

"You're the best friend a girl could ask for," she said. Then, exhaustion completely overtook her. Still smiling, she fell asleep, snuggled in Meta's arms. He looked down at the sleeping Jigglypuff and smiled behind his mask.

He had gotten himself in really deep, that he knew. There was no turning back now. But, right now, at this moment, with her in his arms...

...he didn't really care.

* * *

Well, there you have it. Yes, I made Snake the bad guy.

I was listening to "Somebody to Love" by Queen while I was typing that last section. I nearly cried. Being completely honest here. So that's where the chapter title idea came from. It belongs to Queen.

Cookies to all of my lovely reviewers! Until next update, ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	8. Dresses, Denial, and Defunkification

Hi, everybody! I'm back! And with another chapter! Yays! (evil grin) Dress-shopping time... Well, anyway, we have to legal stuff to get to before you read. And our disclaimer today will be...Mario!

Mario: UM owns nothing besides the fic itself, okay? (whispers) Help, she blackmailed me!

Me: Mario! Quiet, or that _thing_ I told you about might leak out, hmm?

Mario: (wide-eyed) Y-yes, ma'am!

Me: Thank you. Read, please!

* * *

"So, if we program this exactly the right way, we should be able to successfully spy on the girls _and_ listen in on their conversations, _without_ giving ourselves away, and...Meta Knight, are you even listening to me?"

"What? Were you talking to me?" Meta Knight looked up to see one aggravated bird, glaring at him.

"No, I was talking to the wall," Falco said sarcastically. "Of _course _I was talking to you! Now get over here and help me with this thing!" Meta sighed. Falco went through a complete personality change when it came to technology.

"Falco, what's the point of this anyway? Why are we trying to spy on the girls again?" he asked, walking up and looking at the tiny camera that Falco was working on. The bird looked over at him.

"Well, number one, spying on the girls is always fun. I'm _sure _one of them has a crush on me," he said. Meta was about to point out that every girl in Smash Mansion had a date, but he decided against it. "And, number two," Falco continued, "you need to do something to get you out of your weird trance-thing."

"'Weird trance-thing'? What 'weird trance-thing'?" asked Meta Knight.

"This strange funk you've been in ever since yesterday! You've been in, like, your own little world! And trust me, I know little worlds very well." Falco pulled safety goggles over his eyes. "Move back, unless you want your mask burnt off," he muttered, holding up his blowtorch and cementing a small attachment to the camera. "This thing here will be able to cloak the camera effectively, after I program the microchip. To do that, we're going to need to use, maybe a size-two programmer, since the chip is so small, but we'd need to boost the power to a level of..."

Meta had stopped listening a while ago. Usually, when Falco talked technology, it was best to do that before your brain exploded. Sometimes, even though techno-Falco was a bit saner, Meta preferred the regular one. Preferably if the regular one wasn't intent on "de-funkifying" him. But anyway, since Falco didn't look like he was going to stop talking any time soon, Meta Knight decided to let his mind wander.

Jigglypuff and most of the girls had gone out dress-shopping, so they wouldn't be back for a while. Jiggly said that she had just tagged along "to hopefully keep poor Samus sane," but she seemed really excited. Meta smiled just thinking about her. He had lost track of how many times she had thanked him that morning, although it was probably around half the number of times she had hugged him. The puffball was more ecstatic than after Kirby had asked her, impossible as it seemed. And this was three days until the ball. Meta was scared to see what she would be like the night before. It was only natural that he be scared, they shared a room.

But that was two days from now, nothing to worry about. Right now, Meta was more worried about the ball itself, now that he had roped himself into going. Strangely, he wasn't as nervous as he probably should have been about it. He couldn't dance, he had no idea what he was supposed to do...truth be told, he had acted rather spontaneously when he had asked. But, now that he thought about it, it probably wasn't as bad as he thought that it was going to be.

He heard faintly in the background, "Meta, hold this for me." Meta Knight took the small parts handed to him without even looking at Falco.

He was rather surprised, though, that he thought that way. It wasn't like he was pessimistic to a fault, but he didn't exactly have the brightest outlook on things. Maybe...maybe it was Jigglypuff's happy smile whenever she looked at him. Maybe it was the strange, warm, fuzzy feeling that he got every time he looked at her now... But, whatever it was, he knew one thing. For the first time in his life, he was actually looking forward to something.

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion right in front of Meta's face. He jumped. "What the—?"

"META KNIGHT!" Falco nearly screamed. "You let the positive touch the positive! You are _definitely_ out of it! Jesu!" he muttered, taking the now-blackened parts from Meta Knight. The Star Warrior simply blinked.

Wait, what just happened?

* * *

Heavy footsteps and deep gasps for breath gave away exactly who was running up behind Mario. The plumber looked behind him to see his cousin Wario. "Wario, what's goin' on?"

"Mario, you alright?" asked Wario. Mario looked at him. It wasn't like Wario to ask people if they were alright. "You know, about Peach?"

Oh, it was _that _again. "For the last time," Mario muttered, "I'm _fine."_ Wario shrugged.

"Just making sure," he said. "Hey, I'm requesting spaghetti for dinner tonight, okay? See yas!" With that, he walked away. Mario crossed his arms. This was really serious. If Wario was concerned enough to order Mario's favorite food for dinner, who knows what _other_ people might do?

All last night, all this morning, it had been, "Mario, are you okay?" "Mario, you're alright, right?" "Hey, Mario, everything doin' okay?" He couldn't _stand_ it anymore! Why did _they_ care, anyway? Even _Ganondorf_ had come up and asked him! (Ganondorf wasn't in the best of moods, himself.) And, every time, he had answered, "I'm fine, thank you."

He hated it. So Peach was going with Bowser. Alright then. Fine. _He didn't care._ What he did care about was how all of his friends were reacting. He and Peach had never actually been _a_ _couple._ Mario had never considered them _a_ _couple._ But, apparently, once you rescue someone a couple hundred times, you're expected to fall in love with them.

What a wonderful world we live in.

But the plumber had never felt anything for the princess. They were friends. Actually, Mario considered Peach as more of, like, an adopted little sister.

An adopted little sister who was about a foot taller than him, occasionally dreamed up evil schemes, and always told him when to stop eating (which was usually always), but an adopted little sister all the same.

But no one else seemed to think that way. They thought it was cute: a plumber and a princess, perfect! How adorable! How original! How _blech!_ Mario sighed just thinking about it. He quickly stopped himself. He had to be careful about that sighing. People would think he was _pining _for Peach.

Mario decided he would head up to his room for a little bit. Quickly stopping by the kitchen to get a quick snack ("It's _not _comfort food!" he had told Luigi, who was standing by the cookie jar, ready to ask.), he walked down the hall towards the room that he shared with Sonic. Pit noticed him and walked over.

"Hi, Mario, what's up?" he asked. The plumber shrugged.

"Nothing much," he said, popping a cookie into his mouth. He offered one to Pit.

"Thanks," the angel said, taking the cookie. "Hey, you doing alright?" he asked, his mouth filled with chocolate chip. Mario's eye twitched. _Him, too?_

"I'm _fine!"_ he said, loud enough for everyone to hear him. "I'm _hunky-dory! Super swell! Nothing _is wrong with me! I'm going to go to my room to _read_ for a little while, and eat my cookies, because I'm _hungry! Okay?"_ He spotted Bowser, who had just come out of his room to see what all the shouting was about. "Bowser, tell them that I'm fine!" he muttered, walking away to eat his cookies in peace. The Koopa blinked, clueless about whatever the heck had just happened.

"Um...he's fine?"

* * *

"Ooh, this one! Or maybe this one! ...no, definitely _this _one! Hmm...but _that_ one looks really pretty, too..."

What was she doing here? She was Samus Aran, most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, toughest of the tough! What was she doing in a _dress_ _shop?_ If she had to listen to Peach (ooh, this one, that one, this one!) any longer, she might as well explode. And it wasn't bad enough that she had to listen to _Peach _pick a dress, no, she had to _pick one out herself!_ She flopped to the ground.

"I'm doomed," she muttered. Blaze, who had been looking at a few pale blue dresses, turned to her.

"Samus, come on, you're not going to die if you pick out a dress," she said. Samus crossed her arms.

"I don't wear dresses." Nana peeked out from behind the rack of dresses she had been going through.

"You wear nightgowns," she said, holding a bright pink dress in front of herself and looking in the mirror.

"THAT'S DIFFERENT!"

"Come on, Samus, lighten up!" called Zelda. "Have some fun for a change! Which one do you like better?" she asked. Samus looked at the two dresses in her hands.

"That one," she said, pointing to the strapless one on the left. Zelda looked at it, then put it back on the rack and held up the other one instead. "Besides, this is hardly my idea of _fun,"_ complained Samus.

"I've got it! _This _one!" cried Peach triumphantly. She held up a red dress with large white lilies on it. A sky blue ribbon tied in the back around the waist. "It's perfect!" she said. "And the red will match Bowser's eyes!"

"Wait, we have to _match?"_ asked Krystal. She had already picked out a bluish-white floor-length skirt with ruffles and was searching for the perfect top.

"Krystal, you'll be fine with that. It's very pretty," Jigglypuff called from down the aisle. She had figured that wearing a dress might make movement for her extremely difficult, so she decided to pick out accessories instead. "Hey, what do you guys think, flower or bow?"

"FLOWER," they all answered at once.

"Okay then," said the balloon Pokémon, now faced with the choice of what color.

"I'm going to go try this on," Peach said. "Be right back!" She headed off in the direction of the dressing room. Midna looked up.

"Hey, I think I found my perfect dress, too," she said, showing them her find. It was a black strapless, and the bottom was decorated by white spirals.

"Pretty...," said Nana, and Zelda said, "Midna, that is _so_ you."

"Thanks!" she said. "I think I might add a white ribbon to break up the two sections, but I have to see how it looks, first." She headed for the dressing room, too. Zelda sighed.

"Geez, how did those two find their dresses so fast?" she wondered aloud. "I can't even find one!"

"Zelda, you're having a better time than me," sighed Samus. Blaze raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't started looking," she pointed out. The bounty hunter made a _don't remind me_ face and got up. Sighing, she turned to the dresses of her size, starting to search for one that looked _slightly_ wearable, though she doubted that she would find one.

"Wow, Samus, you look like _you're _having the time of your life," muttered Krystal sarcastically.

"Hmph," was all that Samus said.

"Guys, look at this!" The group turned to look at Jigglypuff. Tucked behind her left ear was a deep purple iris. She twirled around happily. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked. They all nodded.

"I think it's beautiful," said Blaze.

"And it _matches!" _squeaked Peach, who had just gotten back from the dressing room. "I'm buying this!" she said as she held up the red dress.

"Alright then," Zelda said, "just wait for the rest of us to find one, okay?" She nodded happily.

"Got it!" she said. "I know! I'll help Samus find her dress!"

"NO!"

"Yep! Hey, how 'bout _that _one, that sparkly one? That one right there!" Samus was now completely sure that she was going to die.

"Lord help me," she muttered. Krystal suddenly cried out with joy. She had finally found a top that matched, a pale blue one that tied around the neck. Small rhinestone stars dotted it.

"Perfect!" she said, holding it and her skirt up. "I love it!" Blaze, who had decided that she wasn't going to go with pale colors and was now looking at the red dresses, smiled.

"Looks good," she said. She began to waver between a maroon-colored dress with black embroidery and a ruby red spaghetti strap that came down to just below her knees. "Hmm, which one would look better with high heels?" she asked herself.

"I'd go with that one," offered Zelda, pointing to the spaghetti strap. After much thought, Blaze left for the dressing room with the one the Hyrulian princess had suggested. Meanwhile, Samus had finally compromised with Peach.

"Fine, I'll get one with sparkles, but _I _get to choose the color, capice?" she said. Peach smiled and nodded.

"But I'll still make suggestions!" she said. "Like, how about that blue one? Or the _red_ one? Or...?"

"Please, somebody shoot me now," Samus sighed. Zelda, Krystal, Nana, and Jigglypuff laughed, and Peach just looked at her.

"I think I'll get either this one or this one," said Zelda, holding up two blue dresses, one floor-length and the other coming down to about her ankles. "I'll go try them on." And then there were five.

"Hey, Samus, what do you think about pink?" asked Peach, looking at a pink sparkly dress. Samus's eye twitched.

"What do _you_ think, Peach?" she muttered. Suddenly, they heard the click of high heels. Blaze, now outfitted in the spaghetti strap, ran up to them.

"Guys, we might have a problem!" she said. Nana looked at her.

"The dress is too tight?" she asked. Blaze narrowed her eyes.

"No," the cat said, "the dress is perfect. I'm buying it."

"Then what's the problem?" asked Krystal. Blaze sighed.

"Midna's zipper got stuck. She can't get out of the dress."

* * *

Meta Knight had just walked out of the cafeteria, done with his dinner, when he was nearly run over by something happy, pink, and hyperactive. Sound familiar?

"Hey, Meta Knight!" cried Jigglypuff, squeezing him tightly. Meta Knight, who had stiffened instinctively (most people do when something is about to hit them), now relaxed himself and hugged her back.

"Hi, Jigglypuff," he said. "How was shopping? Is Samus still alive?" Jiggly laughed, and, for the first time, Meta noticed that it sounded almost like chiming bells.

"Barely," she said, breaking away from him. "She found a dress, though. It's sparkly. And, despite what she thinks, it's gonna make Wolf go like _this."_ She widened her eyes and dropped her jaw. Meta chuckled to himself. "And Midna got stuck in her dress because the zipper broke," she added, "but Krystal got her out. It was a good thing she had an escape kit in her back pocket."

"Sounds like you had a good time," he said. Jiggly nodded. "So, what did you get?" The balloon Pokémon stopped for a moment. A small, mischievous grin appeared on her face. For some reason, that grin sent chills down Meta's spine.

"It's a secret," she said. "You'll find out Saturday." Knowing Jigglypuff, Meta thought, it probably wouldn't stay a secret, but he decided to play along.

"Fine then," he said, pretending to sound disappointed. Jiggly laughed again.

"Oh, Meta Knight?" she asked. He looked at her. "Blue said she found some weird kind of camera thing in her room while we were out. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Meta tried very hard to stifle back a laugh when he answered, "I have no idea." Jiggly looked at him, a bit suspicious, but she decided not to press it.

"Hey, I'm hungry," she said. "Do you want to have dinner with me, Meta?" She grabbed his hand as if she was answering for him, but she still looked back at him, green eyes gleaming. Meta felt that warm, fuzzy feeling starting to creep in again. He felt his face going red behind his mask.

"Sure," he said. Jiggly smiled happily and squeezed his hand, starting to walk into the cafeteria. The fuzzy feeling kept growing. Meta knew fully well that he had already eaten. But right now, dinner seemed like a nice idea.

* * *

Hope you liked it! Yes, I left you hanging on some of the dresses. Evil me.

Mario: You said it.

Me: Ah-ah-ah. Remember the _thing?_

Mario: What I said was, please review! UM will give you cookies!

Me: That's a good plumber. Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	9. Fearless

Sorry I'm a bit late, guys! I was off battling writer's block again... Well, anyways, the ball doesn't start until next chapter because I didn't want to rush into it yet. Personally, I think I've written better chapters, but you can decide for yourself. And our disclaimer today: LUIGI!

Luigi: ...way to burst my eardrum.

Me: Disclaimer, please. No complaints.

Luigi: UM owns nothing besides the fic itself. Please read!

* * *

The next day, even more guests arrived. Candy Kong and Dixie Kong, Donkey Kong's and Diddy Kong's dates, respectively, had come that morning. They had become fast friends with Blue (meaning, they had joined the "Meta Knight Freaks Me Out" club), and the three had hung out anywhere that Meta Knight wasn't. Another guest had arrived, a young Asian woman. Her name was Mei Ling, AKA "The Voice Over the Codec." Apparently, Snake had "convinced" her that the entire little rant against Jigglypuff had been his attempt at matchmaking between her and Meta Knight.

"I don't believe him," Mei Ling muttered to Jiggly, "but it's much more fun to insult him in person."

A few others, like Pichu (Pikachu's guest) and Mona (Wario's), arrived, too, making the Smash Mansion a much noisier place in general. Meta Knight and Jigglypuff, Peach and Bowser, and Wolf and Samus were all sitting together at the café tables outside. Out of the corner of his eye, Meta saw Blue, Candy, and Dixie slowly inching inside, obvious ticked that they couldn't stay outside thanks to _him._

"Gee, they make me feel so _loved," _he muttered under his breath. Bowser stifled back a laugh, earning himself a glare from the Star Warrior. Jigglypuff glanced back at the three girls.

"Weirdos," she said. "Meta Knight, you're no creepier than Mr. King of Koopas here," she said, pointing her thumb at Bowser. He let out a puff of smoke.

"_I _like to consider myself creepy,_ thank you very much,"_ he snorted.

"Aw, but how could you be creepy when you're so sweet?" Peach said, wrapping her arms around him. The "creepy" Koopa King's face went bright red.

"_Peach...," _he pouted.

"Hey, where is everybody?" Samus asked suddenly. "I haven't seen Zelda, Blaze, or Krystal all day!"

"Come to think of it," added Jiggly, "I haven't seen Nana or Midna, either."

"They're all doing girl stuff," Wolf muttered. He looked up to see the three girls present glaring at him. "N-not that girl stuff is bad!" he added quickly.

"Actually," said Peach, "Marth took Zelda to the movies, Blaze and Krystal went to the Multi-Man training area, Nana is in her room, playing video games, and Midna's out buying Link a 'thank you so much for bringing me to the ball' gift." Meta looked at the Mushroom Kingdom princess, eyes wide.

"Do I even want to know how you know all that?" he asked.

"I wouldn't ask," muttered Samus. Jiggly sighed.

"Aw, it's so cute that Marth took Zelda to a movie," she said. "It's like a date!" At this, Bowser, Wolf, and Samus all made hacking faces and Meta glanced up at the sky. It seemed that only Peach shared Jiggly's outlook.

"Romance-haters," the princess muttered.

"It's not hate," said Wolf. "We're just not obsessive about it."

"Actually, it's hate," Samus said. Peach stuck her tongue out at her.

"Anyway," said Bowser, trying to break up a fight before it started, "speaking of movies, are you guys doing anything tonight? There's a horror movie on tonight, but _Peach..."_ He gave her a look, and she smiled sheepishly. "...doesn't want to watch unless there are a lot of people around. Anyone want to watch?"

"Ooh, I will!" shouted Wolf and Samus in unison. They looked at each other. "Stop copying me!" they said again. "Jinx!" Then they both started laughing hysterically.

"Aw, aren't they so cute together?" whispered Peach to Jigglypuff. However, she didn't whisper softly enough, because Samus suddenly looked up and glared at her.

"Peach, start running now," Meta Knight said. The princess looked from him to the glaring Samus and then back to him.

"Good advice," she said, dashing from her seat.

"Get back here, you! You can run, but you can't hide!" Samus leapt from her seat and ran after her. The four remaining at the table sat in silence. And then continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.

"I'll watch it," said Jigglypuff, a bit quietly. Meta looked at her. She wasn't a very big fan of horror movies, so why was she agreeing to watch one? "I mean, if Meta Knight watches it, too," she said, glancing back at him.

"...sure," he said. He himself didn't like horror movies too much either, not because they were scary, but because they were so dang predictable. But he didn't want Jigglypuff to not be able to watch it just because he didn't want to.

"Thanks, Meta!" she cried, hugging him. Oh crap, the fuzzy feeling was coming back. Bowser tried not to laugh again. Meta sent him a look that said, _Laugh and die, turtle-boy._ The Koopa shut up then. Meanwhile, Peach and Samus had made five full laps around the garden, and the former was running out of energy.

"Samus, stop chasing me, please!" she cried, gasping for breath.

"You're mine now!" the bounty hunter shouted, charging.

"EEK!" Peach leapt behind Bowser and cowered there. The Koopa looked back at her.

"...why are you pulling me into this?"

"You'll protect me, right, Bowser?" she asked, completely disregarding his last question.

"Um..."

"_Right, _Bowser?" Bowser shuddered at the now-menacing tone in Peach's voice.

"Yeah, yeah, of course!" he stuttered. Samus, who had been getting ready to charge again, stopped and burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" she replied, taking her seat again. Peach continued to hide behind Bowser.

"Peach," said Wolf, "are you going to come out any time soon?" She shook her head quickly. "I didn't think so," he sighed. Jigglypuff let out a small chuckle.

"Come on, Peach, I'm not _that _scary, am I?" asked Samus, also holding back a laugh.

Noticing Peach's huge eyes and tiny pupils, Meta Knight said, "Apparently, you are."

"Are you sure you want to watch the movie with us tonight, Peach?" asked Jigglypuff. "I mean, if you think Samus is scary, how are you going to react to serial killers?"

"Serial killers stay in the T.V.," Peach said, still inching away from the bounty hunter.

"She has a point," said Meta. Bowser sighed and looked back at the princess.

"Geez, Peach," he said, "I knew you were a bit jumpy, but scared stiff of _Samus?"_ He laughed a little bit.

"_WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?!"_

At Peach's sudden outburst, Bowser's eyes went wide. "Nothing, nothing, I wasn't implying anything, Peach, no sir!" he said hastily. Now the entire table, save for Bowser and Peach, was laughing.

"Very good," said Peach, oblivious to the fact that she had just completely humiliated her date. Bowser sighed again, his face going a bit red.

"Thank you, Peach," he muttered sarcastically. Peach smiled at him.

"You're welcome!"

* * *

"Hey, Blaze?" asked Krystal as she punched a Yellow Alloy in the face. The fire cat looked up, just finished blasting a Green Alloy with flames from her fingertips. "What are we doing here again?"

"Proving to Master Hand that he should have made us Smashers."

"Ah." The two continued fighting in silence for a while, until Krystal asked, "So, how long have you known Sonic?"

"A while," she replied, kicking a Red Alloy in the gut and throwing it into a Blue Alloy. "We technically live in different worlds, but the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds created a portal so that we can visit each other." At the vixen's blank look, she said, "It's a long story."

"Oh. I've known Fox for a while, too," said Krystal. "He saved me from Andross. But not before he stole my staff." Blaze raised an eyebrow.

"Stole...your...staff?"

"Yeah, this one!" she exclaimed, pulling out a long, jeweled staff and impaling a few Alloys with it.

"So...he stole it?" asked Blaze cynically. "And then you got it back?"

"Exactly!" Krystal kicked a Blue Alloy's legs, causing it to trip over and become a perfect target for the point of her staff.

"No wonder you two have relationship issues," the cat muttered.

"What was that?"

"Hmm? I didn't say anything."

"Hey, I'm getting tired," said Krystal. "And hungry. Wanna get something to eat?" Blaze shrugged.

"Sure." She pressed a button on the bracelet she was wearing, and a portal appeared. Krystal mouth dropped.

"How did you do that? Can you control time and space, too?"

"You were supposed to take one before you came in," Blaze sighed. Krystal made an _oh _face and followed her through the portal. In a flash of light, the two arrived at the Stadium section of the Mansion. Blaze removed her bracelet and dropped it into a basket.

"Oh, look, it's Luigi!" said Krystal suddenly. Blaze looked up to see the green-wearing plumber walking out of the Boss Battles portal. He waved to them.

"Hi!" he said. They walked over to him. "What's up, you two?"

"We've been training," Krystal said. "Anything new with you?" He shook his head.

"How are things going with Mario?" asked Blaze nonchalantly. Luigi looked down at the ground.

"He's still in denial," he sighed.

"Denial?" asked Krystal.

"Yep," said the Italian. "About Peach. But he'd deny that any day."

"So," Krystal asked, "he's in denial about being in denial?" Luigi blinked.

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds confusing."

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked," sighed Blaze. "So, how have _you_ been, Luigi?"

"Um...okay, I guess," he said, sounding a bit uncertain. Blaze noticed this, but she knew that it wasn't her place to intrude. However, Krystal didn't seem to feel that way.

"You don't sound okay," she said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" said Luigi, taken aback by the question.

"No, something's wrong," Krystal said.

"Nothing's wrong!"

"What's wrong?!"

"Nothing!"

"Tell me what's wrong or I'll steal your hat!"

"Please don't mind the idiot," Blaze cut in, pulling Krystal by the ear. The vixen shouted in pain a few times.

"Oh, it's fine," said Luigi. "I guess I _have_ been kinda down lately..." Blaze cocked her head. "It's a long story," he said.

"We're not going anywhere!" cried Krystal, pulling her ear free of the cat's gloved hand. Looking at her, the plumber sighed.

"It's really nothing...," he said, trailing off. Blaze knew the saddened look in Luigi's eyes.

"Does this have to do with the ball?" she asked, even though she knew that she was right. Luigi looked shocked.

"How did you...?"

"I have my ways," she said, regaining her blasé appearance.

"Luigi, tell us what's wrong," said Krystal. "We might be able to help!"

"You wouldn't," he sighed, looking down, "but I guess I should tell you anyway, if only to get it off my chest." Blaze nodded. Good. The younger brother was going to open up to them. "Princess Daisy. She had been my girlfriend for a long time," he explained. "But, not long ago, we began to have arguments. _Big _arguments. Then, one day, she just left." He kept his eyes to the ground. "She _left,_ and then, about a month after, she got together with _Waluigi. _At first, I thought it was just to spite me, but when I saw them together..." Luigi paused for a moment. "...she seemed to be, I don't know, _happy. _Happier than she ever was with me. Tell me that's not supposed to make me feel like a horrible person."

"Oh, Luigi," the vixen sighed, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"And with this ball, I can't help but be thinking about her," he finished. "But don't tell Mario that. I've been bugging him so much about Peach, it'll make me look like a hypocrite." He smiled a little bit. "But thanks for listening to my pointless rambling. See ya later!" With that, he walked away.

"Poor Luigi," said Krystal. "That's so sad." She looked over at Blaze. The cat had her eyes closed, like she was thinking about something rather hard. "Blaze, what are you doing?" Blaze opened one eye.

"Trying to think. Be quiet." Krystal opened her mouth to say something when someone interrupted them.

"Oh, there you guys are!" Midna ran up to them, a wrapped present in hand. "Blaze, I got it! Do you really think it's going to work?" she asked.

"If it wasn't going to work, why would I have told you to get it?" she answered.

"Should I give it to him now?" Blaze shook her head.

"Wait until the ball. At a nice, romantic moment. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a list of single women in the Mushroom Kingdom world." She started to walk away. Krystal, utterly confused, looked to Midna, who shrugged.

"Why? What are you doing?" Krystal called. The cat turned her head to them, stopping for a moment.

"My job," she said simply. Then, she walked away.

* * *

Of all the nights there had to be a huge thunderstorm, it had to be tonight. The night when she was watching a horror movie. Jigglypuff bit her lip.

_Maybe I should have rethought this a bit..._

A lightning flash, followed by the crash of thunder, nearly made her jump. Geez, they hadn't even gotten past the opening credits! She sighed. When the thunderstorm had started, Meta Knight had asked her if she still wanted to watch the movie. Not in a "you're a scaredy-cat, you can't watch it" kind of way. A nice, gentle, "I care about you" kind of way. And still, she said yes. Even though she had a feeling Meta wouldn't even think twice about it, she didn't want to look like a coward in front of him.

_And you're doing an amazing job with that, _she thought, trying desperately to keep herself from shaking. She glanced around the room. Bowser and Peach were together on the sofa, the latter snuggled in the former's arms. Samus and Wolf also crowded on the couch, both of their eyes wide with excitement. Horror lovers. Midna and Link had come to watch, too, and were sitting on the floor next to Jigglypuff. And, last but not least, Meta Knight was sitting on one of the beanbag chairs that Peach had brought down. Jiggly looked at him. He didn't seem to be fazed at all. In fact, he seemed kind of bored. She wished that she could be more like him. It didn't seem like he was scared of anything.

...then again, they were only three minutes into the movie, and there had been nothing particularly horrifying yet. But that was beside the point.

The group watched through the opening credits in anxious silence, save for a few questions from Peach. "Bowser, what's that thing?" she whispered oh-so-quiet-and-not-annoying-ly. For the fifth time.

"Peach, watch and you'll find out," the Koopa muttered, trying not to be distracted as the opening credits ended and the camera zoomed in on a small, out-of-the-way cottage. Thunder crashed both onscreen and off. Jigglypuff shuddered. She had a bad feeling about what was coming next. Slowly, maybe instinctively, she began to inch towards Meta Knight. He glanced at her, but didn't say anything. The movie continued, and then, five minutes in, there was a blood-curling scream.

From both in the movie and not, seeing as Jigglypuff, Midna, Samus, and Link had all screamed, too.

Jiggly stopped inching and nearly jumped into Meta's arms. He looked at her, his eyes turning a bit pink. She felt her sudden terror fading away, and annoyance starting creeping in at that. His eyes turned pink when he was _amused._ "_I_ don't find it funny," she whispered, pouting a little bit. Meta Knight smiled behind his mask. She gave him an annoyed look, but huddled closer to him anyway. He simply sighed.

"Why do I have a feeling it's going to be a _long _movie?" he muttered. Jigglypuff stuck out her tongue and turned her attention back to the movie. The horror didn't die down at all, unfortunately for her, but, for some reason, she wasn't as scared as before. That being said, she was still scared half to death. But she felt somewhat..._safer _in Meta's arms. At one part, she got so scared that, had Meta Knight not had his arms around her, she would have leapt up fifty feet in the air and hidden behind the couch. But Meta simply smiled, his eyes turning pink again, and squeezed her hand as if to say, _It's alright._ Jiggly squeezed it back, also feeling a small smile creep onto her face.

Finally, the movie began to come to a close. As the final scene ended and the closing credits began to roll, Jigglypuff couldn't help but sigh with relief. That was probably the creepiest movie she had ever seen. She wasn't the only one who thought this. All but two pairs of eyes were wide at the end, the first being Meta Knight's (obviously) and the other being Peach's.

"That was awesome!" she cried. "He killed eleven people! _Eleven people in two hours!" _Bowser sighed.

"Just don't get any ideas...," he muttered. The friends turned off the T.V. and began to head for their rooms.

"...well, that wasn't as bad as I expected," lied Jigglypuff as she and Meta Knight walked towards their room. She wanted to at least make it _seem_ like she wasn't afraid. Meta looked at her. She was still shaking a tiny bit, and her eyes hadn't shrunken back to their original size yet.

"Yeah...," he said sarcastically. Jiggly crossed her arms.

"Just because you're not scared of anything doesn't mean other people aren't," she pouted. Meta chuckled, his eyes turning pink again.

"You think I'm not scared of anything?" She nodded. He sighed. "Everyone's scared of something—"

"Except you!" Jiggly butted in. Meta Knight gave her an annoyed look. "I'll be quiet now," she said softly.

"...Horror movies," he continued, "aren't really that scary to me. They're pretty predictable."

"Wait, so, the part when the ax murderer broke into the house while they were having dinner, you _knew _that was going to happen?" He shrugged.

"More or less," he said. "It's not really as scary when you know what's going to happen."

"Can you teach me to do that, too?" Jiggly asked. He looked at her.

"It makes the movie rather boring though."

"So?" The balloon Pokémon didn't care, as long as she could get through a horror movie without having a nervous breakdown. Meta sighed as they approached their door.

"Maybe sometime," he said, giving in. Jiggly smiled. Meta Knight opened the door. The room was dark, and the light switch was all the way on the other side (another brilliant architectural idea from Master Hand...). Meta walked in, and Jiggly followed, shaking a little. Before Meta even got halfway to the switch, lightning flashed and illuminated the whole room. Jigglypuff leapt right back into Meta Knight's arms. "Jigglypuff...," he sighed.

"Um...hi, Meta Knight!" She smiled nervously, still shaking.

"Is it going to be like this all night?" he asked. Jiggly thought for a minute.

"Most likely." He sighed again. Flicking the light on, Meta brought her over, and the two sat on his bed. Thunder and lightning continued to wreck havoc outside, but now that the light was on, and Meta was holding her, Jiggly's fear began to dwindle away. And with her fear, her energy did, too. "Meta Knight, I'm still pretty sure you're not afraid of anything," she said, trying to stifle back a yawn. He didn't answer, but he smiled at her from behind his mask. Jiggly, somehow knowing that the smile was there, smiled back.

Maybe she should try watching horror movies more often.

* * *

Well, there you have it! I promise that the next chapter will come quicker (and be better!!).

Luigi: Next time, a battle of the matchmakers! And the beginning of the end! Well, for most of the guys, anyway.

Me: What are you doing?

Luigi: Sneak preview!

Me: ...right... Anyway, review please! Cookies to everyone!

Luigi: See ya next time! CIAO!

Me: That's my line...

-Umbreon Mastah


	10. It's Here

Hola, peoples! Sorry I'm so late, but...(glances up) HOLY COW! THAT NUMBER! (points to review count) IT'S GOT THREE DIGITS! (faints)

(silence)

Crazy Hand: ...Hello? HOLA! Well, seems like UM's out of commission for a little while, hmm? I'm supposed to be doing the disclaim thingy, but apparently I'm your host as well! So, UM is not the owner of anything! Except the fic itself...and the plot...and some really cool socks that I stole yesterday. But, read please! And now to wake UM up!

_

* * *

_

It's here.

That thought crossed the minds of basically every living creature in the Smash Mansion the morning of the ball. Some thought it with excitement, some with dismay. Some couldn't care less, and some thought it with more hope than one would think possible. And a certain pink puffball thought it with more enthusiasm, more anticipation, that if she added any more, she would probably explode.

"META KNIGHT, IT'S HERE!"

Too late...

Meta Knight blinked his eyes open. "Jigglypuff, do I even want to know what time it is?" he muttered. The pink puffball looked from the clock to Meta Knight.

"...You probably don't," she said sheepishly. Meta sighed and closed his eyes again. "But it's here, Meta Knight!"

"I think I've realized that," he said unenthusiastically, not bothering to open his eyes. Yes, it was here. After three days of waiting, it was here. But, technically, it wasn't here until that night, and Meta wanted to get in a few more hours of sleep. He knew that that was highly unlikely, though.

"Come on, Meta," said Jigglypuff, attempting to drag him out of bed. "Get up! You're already awake!"

"Regrettably."

"Geez, Meta, don't sound so excited," she muttered. In reply, Meta Knight turned to face the wall and pulled the covers back over him. "Meta Knight!" Jiggly pouted. "It's here! Show some enthusiasm!" she told him.

"Enthusiasm? In the morning?" he asked. "You're asking _way _too much of me." The balloon Pokémon was about to say something when she stopped and looked at the ground.

"You're not excited about it, are you?" she asked, in a kind of disheartened tone. Meta's eyes went wide. Did she think that he wasn't excited to be going? To be going with _her?_

"No, no, I'm excited!" he said quickly, sitting up. "Of course I'm excited! Why wouldn't I be?" Jiggly looked up again and smiled. She tried to hold back a chuckle.

"You just sounded like Bowser right then..." Meta sighed. But then, a smile crept onto his face as well.

"Lovely," he said. "Well, I'm up now. What do you want to do?"

"Let's get breakfast!" cried Jiggly. "We can raid the fridge before anyone else gets up!" Meta didn't even have a chance to mutter a "Sure" when the balloon Pokémon grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the room. He managed to catch a quick glance at the clock.

Four thirty.

_The things I do for her..._

After being pulled down the steps ("Jigglypuff, can you let me walk myself before one of my bones is broken?!"), Meta Knight was finally released as the two entered the kitchen. Jiggly dashed to the refrigerator and opened it.

"Meta Knight, there's cream cheese in here. Do you want a bagel?"

"Sure," he answered, already at the coffee machine. Jiggly took out the cream cheese and two bagels. She spread the cream cheese over them and handed one to him. "Thanks," he said, taking the cup of decaf and sitting down with it. He popped a straw in like he always did and began to drink. He stopped for a moment. "I don't think you really need that," he said to Jigglypuff, who was at the moment getting ready to order an espresso from the coffee machine. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Fine, I'll just get a regular," she said. Meta sighed.

"I'm not feeling any less scared," he muttered. But he let it go and continued drinking the decaf, pausing every now and then to pop a piece of bagel under his mask and into his mouth. The pink puffball got her coffee and sat down next to him. She glanced towards him.

"Does that ever get annoying?" she asked suddenly. Meta Knight looked at her.

"Does what ever get annoying?"

"Eating like that," she said. "Popping everything under your mask. Does it get annoying?" Meta simply blinked.

"...No," he said, a bit shocked. "Why would it?" Jiggly shrugged.

"I don't know. _I _would find trying to eat with a mask on rather annoying. Like, what if you miss your mouth?" At this, Meta nearly choked on his bagel.

"Miss...my...mouth?" he managed to cough out. "Jiggly, I'm pretty sure I know where my mouth is."

"Well, what about corn on the cob? You can't eat that," she argued, moving on to her next point. "Or drinking soup broth out of a bowl? Don't say straw," she said quickly.

"Are you trying to make a point here?"

"Um..." Jiggly glanced up, showing to Meta Knight that she was. "I was just wondering if you ever, you know, take off your mask," she said. Meta blinked. Oh. _That _was her point.

"...I do," he said. "Just not around people." Jigglypuff looked at him.

"Why not?"

"Well, because..." He faltered for a moment. His mask was a very, _very_ touchy subject. He was surprised that he was even trying to talk about it. Usually, if someone asked, he would either completely change the subject or say nothing at all. But, then again, this was Jigglypuff that he was talking to. "It's just...well..."

Alright, comforting as that fact was, it obviously wasn't comforting enough.

"...I don't like taking my mask off in front of people," he decided on finally. _Wonderful argument, _he thought to himself.

"Oh," said Jiggly, her tone revealing...disappointment? Meta widened his eyes again. What was she disappointed about?

"Is something wrong?" he asked quickly. _I _am _turning into Bowser, aren't I?_ The pink puffball looked up and smiled at him.

"Nope!" she said, although she still sounded disappointment. Meta wasn't very convinced, but he popped another piece of bagel into his mouth and kept quiet. She was disappointed about something, but what? Was she disappointed..._that he didn't like taking off his mask? _But why would she be disappointed about that? They had been friends since basically the start of the Brawl season, and she had never once asked about his mask, had never once tried to steal it. She had, in fact, once foiled an attempt to steal it (poor Wario was never the same after that...). So why would she be disappointed about it now? Unless...

...Unless she was going through exactly what he was. The strange fuzzy feelings. The need for her to be happy. Even now, as she was giving him that beautiful smile, green eyes glowing brightly, he was feeling it. Was she feeling the same way about him? Did she think about him all the time now, like he thought about her? Because, when he had tried to find out why he felt this way, everything pointed to one reason. An emotion he would have never thought that he, Meta Knight, the "guy who was about yay big and gave off a creepy vibe" (Yes, Midna had told him about that. Wolf was, needless to say, dismayed, and for good reason, as Meta was not too happy), basically, the freak, would ever feel. If he did feel it. He was still unsure of that. But now, he was wondering, dreading—or was it hoping?—that she felt the same way.

Which led back to what brought him to think these deep, psychological thoughts in the first place. His two choices were telling what he had never willingly told anyone else before to the person he...he...It was too early to pull the "L" word...or keeping the secret that underneath his mask he looked exactly like—

"Good morning, Zelda! You're up early!" _Whoa! Train of thought wreck!_ Meta glanced up to see the Hyrulian princess, whom Jigglypuff had just greeted.

"Morning, Jiggly. Morning, Meta," she said, sounding only half awake.

"Good morning," Meta Knight replied, still trying to recollect his thoughts.

"You sound like you're still sleeping, Zee," said Jigglypuff. "Why are you up this early?" _The same reason I am, _Meta thought to himself. _Someone dragged her out of bed._

"Marth woke me up." _Bingo._

"Oh," the pink puffball said. "Why?" Zelda shrugged and went for the coffee machine, ordering an espresso. "Hey! Meta Knight, why do you let _her_ get an espresso and not me?!" Jiggly said suddenly. Meta looked at her.

"You plus caffeine overdose equals apocalypse, Jigglypuff."

"Ha, ha, I love you, too, Meta," she muttered. It was then that Meta froze.

_She just said..._

She didn't mean it. Of course she didn't mean it. She had probably said it to him, exactly like that, joking around, over a hundred times. But...but...

_What if she did mean it? _Meta tried to shake the thought from his mind and kept eating his bagel. _But still... _he thought. _What if she does? _He let out a small sigh. _Because..._

_Because I think _I _do..._

* * *

Princess Peach hummed a happy tune as she walked down the hall of Smash Mansion. The day she had been waiting for had finally arrived, and she wasn't afraid to show her excitement. Not only had she been able to survive waiting for over three weeks, she had managed to pair up every one of her friends perfectly. "Yes, indeed, Peach, you are the matchmaker supreme!" she said, chuckling to herself.

"Oh really?" Peach stopped. She didn't lose her smile, but she was shocked that someone else had been in the hallway.

"Blaze? Hello!" she said, turning to address the purple cat that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"You really think you are the best matchmaker there is?" asked Blaze, not even bothering with a greeting. "What makes you say that?"

"I've paired up many people," Peach answered, "though why you'd be concerned is beyond me." The cat looked down at her fingers, stretching them casually.

"I'd bet you anything that I've paired up more people for this dance than you have." This time, Peach did lose her smile.

"Oh? And since when have _you _been matchmaking?" she retorted. Matchmaking was _her _thing, and there was no way some amateur kitty-cat was going to show her up.

"I could give you a list," said Blaze.

"You're on!" the princess cried, fire in her eyes. She opened her mouth to list everyone she had helped get together, but a call from across the hall stopped her.

"Princess Plum! Fire-Kitty! Happy Leif Erikson Day!" A white gloved hand, a Viking hat set in place on his pinkie finger, floated down the hall towards them. His fingers twitched every so often.

"Hello, Crazy Hand!" said Peach, used to being called the wrong name by the younger of the two Hands. "Happy Leif Erikson Day to you!" Blaze looked at her like, _Leif Erikson Day is half a year from now!_ "Just go along with it," she muttered.

"Hinga dinga durgen!" shouted Crazy happily. "Anyways, what are you two doing in the middle of a hallway?"

"_I _was just about to show Peach that I was a much better matchmaker than she was," Blaze said, figuring that the leftie really wouldn't care. However, the Hand snapped his fingers.

"Oh, fun! Well, go ahead, start showing!"

Shrugging, Blaze said, "Well, there's Link and Midna..."

"Huh?!" shouted Peach.

"That's a lie," said Crazy. The cat looked at him.

"And why would that be?" she said, crossing her arms. "I told Midna to buy the gift for Link. She's giving it to him tonight."

"Yes," Crazy Hand said, "but it wasn't you who brought them together in the first place. In fact, it was Zelda, through an IM. The wonders of technology, eh? Like Snake's codec! Have you ever played with that? It's fun, except when it blows up on you." The Hand shuddered.

"Wait, so Zelda paired them up?" asked Peach. She punched the air. "Ha! One less for you, cat!" Blaze stuck out her tongue. "My turn, my turn! I've been working for Samus to get together with someone, and now that she's going with Wolf..."

"No! I definitely helped to pair them up!" Blaze interrupted. "I talked to Samus the day before they got together!" The two glared at each other, ready to start a heated argument.

"Actually, neither of you paired them up," Crazy cut in. They turned to him.

"Then who did?" Peach asked cynically.

"Meta Knight." Jaws dropped. Peach laughed nervously.

"M-Meta Knight? Ha!"

"No, it's true. Meta paired them up at exactly five eighteen am four days ago, when he first told Samus that Wolf wanted to go with her and then when he pushed Wolf, unbeknownst to him, straight into Samus's arms." The two girls blinked.

"...Crazy Hand, that's creepier than _me _knowing where everyone is," said Peach finally.

"How do you do that?" asked Blaze. The leftie snickered.

"I'm everywhere!" he said. "I'm in the walls, I'm in your minds, I'm in the air! I'm even in your sock drawer!" He let out an insane chuckle at this part. "But anyways," he said, "those two pairings put the score at Zelda: one; Meta Knight: one; you two: zero."

"Well...Well..." the fire cat stuttered quite out-of-character-ly, trying to find another point to argue. "What about Krystal and Fox?" She had been trying to get the two to work past their relationship issues as soon as she had heard about the staff ordeal.

"Falco was the one who jokingly told Krystal about the ball," said Crazy, as if everyone should have known that. "So, he is the one credited with putting them together." Blaze nearly cursed at this part, but she stopped herself, realizing something.

"Rosalina!" she cried. "_I _got Rosalina to come all the way from the Comet Observatory and ask Luigi to the ball. _That _took a lot of convincing, mind you!"

"So _that _was why Luigi shouted, 'Rosalina!' at the top of his lungs yesterday..." Peach thought aloud. She had been busy finishing up plans for the ball yesterday, and she didn't realize that Luigi hadn't expected Princess Rosalina to be coming.

"Alright, Fire-Kitty..." Blaze snorted. "...That puts you at one. Princess, anything for you?" Peach thought for a moment. Of course, there was Meta Knight and Jigglypuff, but Master Hand had only just let brawls start up again, and that was with the controls room under high surveillance. And she was talking to Master Hand's brother here. "Well, Princess Apricot," Crazy said, "since you can't seem to argue yourself, I'll argue for you. You paired up Meta Knight and Jigglypuff, right?"

"But, how, what, no!" the cat cut in. Peach, too, was shocked.

"I know that it was you who cut the pain simulation during Kirby and Bowser's brawl," the Hand told her. "Very, very smart! I couldn't have thought of a better idea myself." Noticing the wide-eyed look on Peach's face, he chuckled. "Don't worry, Banana, you're not in trouble! I'd never tell anyone," he said. "But if you're still not sure," he added, his tone growing darker, "we could sign a pact...in _blood."_

"No, no, I believe you," said the mushroom princess quickly, waving her hands in front of her.

"Well, even if Peach cut the pain simulation," argued Blaze, "Snake really was the one who paired them up."

"_But, _if not for Strawberry's quick thinking, Jigglypuff would still be going with the marshmallow and Meta would still be locked in his room," the leftie said matter-of-factly.

"Objection!" Blaze cried.

"Overruled!" said Crazy, cackling madly. "I'm having so much fun with this, aren't you two?" They simply groaned. "Anyways, that puts the score at Zelda: one; Meta Knight: one; Falco: one; Fire-Kitty: one; Princess Tomato: one," he reported.

"Um...How about Marth and Zelda?" asked Peach. Blaze nodded anxiously. Both hoped that Crazy Hand would say _their _name and not the other's.

"Oh? Yes, that would be Meta Knight again," he said. Silence. "I'm not even bothering to explain it, so ask Marth for the whole story," the leftie sighed. "But that one makes Meta Knight the winner of this little contest! Hooray!" More silence.

"No...way..." the princess said, mouth dropped.

"But he...But he wasn't even part of this!" Blaze stomped her high-heel. Crazy shrugged, or as much as a giant hand could.

"Even so, you two are still at a tie. I guess neither one of you are the better matchmaker. Oh well! Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!"

"Didn't you just say that it was Leif Erikson Day?" asked the cat, motioning towards the large-horned Viking hat still positioned on his pinkie.

"Huh?" he said. "Well, it's Squirrel Appreciation Day now." With a flick of his pinkie, the Viking hat went flying out of sight. The three of them heard a shout of pain that sounded like Toon Link's, but none of them really cared. "Alright, you two, I'm off to find some nuts!" said Crazy, starting to float down the hall. He stopped. "Oh, and I don't think that Falco has a date yet." And then he floated away.

Blaze and Peach looked at each other, a bit confused. Then, they glared at each other.

"First one to get Falco a date wins!"

* * *

"Stop, stop, it's too tight, it's too tight!"

"Oops, sorry," muttered Bowser sheepishly, backing away from the purple-faced Wolf.

"Marth!" he said, gasping for breath. "Marth, a little help here!" He clawed at the horrific torture device that had been placed around his neck, the menace that was going to choke him and leave him airless, dead in three minutes.

Otherwise known as a bowtie.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," the prince sighed, walking over and loosening it. Wolf let out a deep breath. When he had agreed to let some of the guys (Falco, Marth, Bowser, and Fox, to be specific) come into his room to get ready for the ball, he hadn't expected to be nearly suffocated.

"Thanks," he said. "Geez, Bowser, put me in a chokehold, why don't you?"

"You kept squirming!" the Koopa shouted.

"Well, you would, too, if you had to dress up in _this _getup!" Wolf snorted. He walked in front of the mirror, shuddering. He had, due to Marth, Meta Knight, and Falco's urging, rented a tuxedo for the event. It was a jet black, as was the bowtie. His shoes were black as well. He was also wearing white gloves, but they had somehow ended up being too small, and his claws stuck out awkwardly.

"Come on, Wolf, it's not that bad," said Marth, dressed in a tux almost exactly the same, sans the claws. The wolf crossed his arms.

"I look terrible," he said.

"No, you don't," Bowser said as he straightened his bright red bowtie. Though not in a full tux, Bowser had changed his shell to a black one, one reserved for formal events. It was about as close as he could get to a suit.

"Yes, I do," Wolf sighed. He sat down on the bed, pouting a little. "I can't believe you convinced me to wear this," he spat at Marth and Falco. The bird, who was also wearing a tux, stuck out his tongue.

"Everyone's wearing them," he said, motioning to his suit and then to Fox and Marth.

"I don't care," he said, "I'm taking it off."

"I wouldn't do that," came a voice from the door. They all glanced up.

"Meta Knight, what are you doing here?" asked Fox.

"I thought you said you weren't coming," Bowser said.

"I wasn't," said the Star Warrior, "but Jigglypuff kicked me out of the room so that she could get ready." Surprisingly, Jiggly had managed to keep what she was wearing a secret. And she intended to keep it a secret, so that basically meant that Meta wasn't allowed anywhere near the room until it was time for the ball.

"Oh, so you only came because you had nothing better to do?" asked Falco cynically. "We're not good enough for you?"

"Well, when you put it that way, yes." Meta walked in and sat on Wolf's bed. "And, as I was saying, Wolf, you shouldn't take it off. How long did it take you to get it on in the first place?"

"Quite a while," Marth answered for him, sighing.

"Fine, fine, I'll leave it on," said Wolf, giving in, if only not to endure the terrifying ordeal of actually getting it off.

"Oh, I have this, in case anyone wants to use it," Fox said. He held up a bottle of cologne.

"So _that_ was what smelled," Bowser said. Falco looked at the label.

"I'm sorry, Fox, but that's just disgusting." Fox took the bottle and sprayed it in the bird's face. "My eyes, my eyes!" he cried.

"Falco's right, though," agreed Marth. "Don't spray me!" he shouted, cringing. Fox looked at the bottle in his hand.

"It really smells that bad?" he asked.

"Yes!" they all shouted. The vulpine crossed his arms.

"That would have been nice to know _before _I put it on!"

"Just wash it out," said the Koopa. Then, an evil grin flashed across his face. He dashed over to the door. "Hey, Red!" he shouted across the hall. The Pokémon trainer stuck his head out of his room. From the way his hair looked, he had just gotten out of the shower.

"What?"

"Can we borrow Squirtle for a moment?" Bowser asked. Fox's eyes went wide.

"Ignore the Koopa!" he cried, shoving Bowser out of the way and slamming the door. The room burst into mad laughter.

"Well," said Meta Knight, desperately trying (and failing) to keep his normal, stoical demeanor, "I think you've succeeded in scarring Red for life."

"I try," said Bowser with a mock bow. There was a knock at the door.

"We don't want Squirtle!" Fox shouted.

"Why would you want Squirtle?" came the reply. The voice was Krystal's. Fox immediately froze up, now realizing that his date was outside the door and he smelled like cheap cologne. "Anyway," she said, "are you guys ready yet?"

"No."

"Yes."

"Never will be."

"Ready when you are."

"Slightly."

"I don't think so."

The six answers above were all uttered at the exact same time, so the end result was something along the lines of, "Nesillyoulyso." Krystal simply sighed and said, "We're all waiting for you, so hurry up." Then she walked away, her clicking footsteps giving away that she was wearing high heels.

"You heard her, hurry up," Meta repeated, starting for the door.

"Easy for you to say!" retorted Marth.

"You're not the one who had to put on the tux of excruciating doom!" Wolf agreed.

"Yeah, what happened to formal wear?" Falco said, motioning to Meta's attire, which was exactly the same as what he always wore.

"Come on, guys, it's not like he could wear a suit," Bowser argued for him. "He's got a puffball shape. In fact, Meta, I've never really realized, but you have the same shape as Kir—"

"We're ending the conversation now," the Star Warrior butted in, opening the door. "Hurry up." He walked out of the room, leaving the other five to stare blankly at each other. Then, after doing a last minute checkup ("I still smell horrible!" Fox complained.), they followed him. Finally, all six gathered at the bottom of the stairs.

"Where are they?" Marth voiced the question that everyone else had on the tips of their tongues. There was no one in sight.

"They ditched you," said Falco matter-of-factly. "See, this is why I didn't bother with a date."

"I heard that!" The bird's beak dropped, and his eyes went wide.

"K-K-Katt?!" Fox suddenly burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Ha!" he cried. "It's karma for calling Krystal!"

"Katt, you ruined the surprise!" came Zelda's voice.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not letting Falco think he can got to a dance without me!" said the voice that belonged to Katt. "But I'll go down first then." One of the doors upstairs opened, and out walked a black cat with blue eyes. She was wearing a knee-length purple dress. The cat walked down the stairs. "Hey," she said, "name's Katt Monroe. Pleased to meet all of ya." Then Katt walked straight up to Falco and grabbed his wing. "To the ball, my feathered sweetheart!"

"_Katt!" _whined Falco. "How did you get here?"

"I got a call from someone," she said simply. Falco made a mental note to kill whoever that someone was. "But let's go!" Then she dragged him out into the hallway.

"Wait! Do you even know where you're going?! Guys, help!" But Falco's protests fell on deaf ears, as the rest of the guys were now anxious to see who would come out next. The door opened again, this time revealing the Hyrulian princess. Zelda walked out of the room wearing a deep blue floor-length dress. Sapphire earrings dangled from her ears, and her usually long hair was pulled up into a low bun. To Marth, she seemed to glide down the steps.

"...Hi," was all that he managed to say. Zelda giggled.

"Hi," she said, gently taking his hand. Face red, Marth simply let himself be led down the hall. "We'll see you guys out there!" the princess called.

"Poor Marth never knew what hit him," sighed Wolf. The door swung open, this time revealing a blonde-haired woman. She was wearing a black dress (this one also came down to the knees) with sparkles all over it. It shined brilliantly. She was also wearing black high heels. Carefully coming down the stairs, so not to trip over her high heels, the woman came up to Wolf.

"Are you ready?" she asked. Only then did the wolf realize that this was Samus. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped fifteen inches. Samus let out a laugh, and Meta quietly did, too.

"And Jigglypuff thinks _I'm _a psychic," he muttered to himself.

"Come on, Wolf," said the bounty hunter, grasping his hand and pulling him down the hall, leaving the other guys to wonder if any of them were walking down that hall willingly. "By the way, you look really nice," she added, making a blush cross Wolf's face as well.

"Y-you do, too!" he stuttered. The two followed Marth and Zelda down the hall.

"And then there were three," muttered Fox. This time, Krystal emerged from the room donning her pale blue outfit. Her matching high heels clicked loudly as she went down the stairs. "And it looks like my date is here!" he said, holding out his arm for the vixen. She took it and smiled at him, and they walked down the hall together. "Good luck, men!" he called.

"Do you think that Krystal noticed the smell?" whispered Bowser. Meta Knight simply shrugged. They both glanced up as the door revealed the penultimate date. Peach, her blonde hair in a ponytail, walked out in her lovely red dress, white lilies almost gleaming in the light. She was right; the red matched Bowser's eyes perfectly. The smile on the princess's face was even bigger than it normally was, and _that_ was saying something. Bowser held out his claw to her as she finished descending from the room, but she completely ignored it and wrapped her arms around him in a hug instead.

"Hiya, Bowser!" she chirped, planting a small kiss on his cheek. The Koopa's face went beet red.

"Hi, Peach..." he managed to mumble out. Releasing him, Peach immediately grabbed one of his claws. As they began to walk down the hall like the others, Bowser looked back at Meta Knight, who, noticing that the Koopa was shaking nervously and still had a face as red as a fire truck, gave an encouraging, if somewhat out-of-character, thumbs up. And then the Star Warrior was left alone.

He might not have noticed it, but he, too, was shaking a little. He tried to shake away the butterflies in his stomach. The door opened slowly. Meta looked up.

She looked amazing. As she stepped out from the room and started down the stairs, Jigglypuff was pretty much the vision of perfect in Meta Knight's eyes. A deep purple iris was tucked behind her left ear. Her bright emerald eyes seemed to glow even more than they did normally. She floated downstairs, her feet barely touching the steps.

"Hi, Meta Knight," she said, smiling. Her voice jerked Meta out of the trance he had been in.

"You...You look gorgeous." The words nearly spilled out of his mouth, and he shut it quickly before he started babbling. Jiggly let out a small laugh.

"Thanks!" She slipped her hand into Meta's gloved one, and he almost instinctively squeezed it. Their eyes met. The feeling had been there before, but now it hit him big time. He swallowed back any doubt he had and let out a deep breath.

"Are you ready?" he asked, squeezing her hand again. She squeezed back.

"Yep."

And, hand in hand, they followed.

It was here.

* * *

Crazy Hand: So? Didja like it? Didja didja didja? That was the longest chapter yet! Oh, and UM says she's sorry for making you wait so long.

Me: (wakes up) Huh? (gasp) THE REVIEW COUNT! IT HAS--!

Crazy Hand: (holds finger over mouth) Shush! You'll wake up UM!

Me: ...Okay then. Anyways, _Dancing _has over one hundred reviews! You guys rock! You don't know how happy your reviews make me. Thanks, and the next update won't take forever, I promise. Cookies to everyone!

Crazy Hand: Including me?

Me: Yep! (gives cookie)

Crazy Hand: Yummers!

Both of us: CIAO!

-Umbreon Mastah


	11. A Blade of Grass

Alright, guys, I am so, so, so, so, SO sorry for being exactly two months late. I feel completely awful for making you wait this long. Many, many sorries, gomen nasai, however you say sorry in Spanish, in Italian, in French, and in every other language there is. Including Pig Latin. Orry-say.

And also all those sorries for a bit of time traveling in here. Part 2 and 3 overlap in time a little bit, and I'll be continuing Part 2 from exactly where it left off next chapter. Which WILL be up sooner. I promise.

I'd like to thank three reviewers for giving me ideas for this chapter. One would be StuffJunkers, my first reviewer EVER for this fic. Next would be PyrroNeko, another awesome reviewer. And finally, midna-mew-eevee. Without her, I would have never entered the awesome world of MidnaxLink. Thanks, you guys!

And now, after that extremely long author's note, Peach, with our disclaimer!

Peach: UM owns nothing, and all characters belong to their respective owners. Please read!!

* * *

Not many people would think it possible to transform a gym into a halfway decent place to dance. But not many people have met someone like Peach. She must have been a miracle worker (or something of the sort) because the gymnasium, the largest room in Smash Mansion, definitely looked the part. Needless to say, all of the sports equipment had been moved to some other (most likely crowded) room, leaving the bare, polished wood as a perfect dance floor. Brightly colored streamers, quite a few of them pink, hung from almost every square inch of the ceiling. The buffet table was decorated with a very fancy table cloth, and it was lined with all types of food and drink imaginable, including punch, fruit salad, and blueberry pancakes topped with spaghetti sauce and garlic. While that appealed to some, others were awestruck by the lighting. Blue orbs floated through the air, giving off a magical glow. Though some of the orbs wandered aimlessly around the room, sometimes picking a couple to follow for a while, a great number were gathered in the center of the ceiling, forming a magical chandelier. It was beautiful, and no one could argue.

Although, a certain group of Smashers weren't very happy to see this gorgeous display, beautiful as it was. These five Smashers were Lucario, Pit, Mario, Ganondorf, and Dedede.

They were the dateless group.

Now, Lucario was probably the happiest of the dateless group, as he had actually joined willingly. He hadn't really wanted to take part in the ball but decided to anyway, just so he wouldn't be a "party-pooper," as Peach had told him many times. Now that he had gotten here, he found it rather fun, watching the couples try to dance and chuckling at their reactions when the blue orbs (which, he pointed out quite a few times, were _his _Aura Spheres held into the air by Ness's and Lucas's PSI power) started chasing them.

Pit was a bit more sullen. He had been too shy to ask anyone, and he had ended up being forced to come anyway (by none other than Peach). He would occasionally sigh or hum along to a song he knew, but other than that, he was sulky.

Mario was inhaling the buffet, denying every claim that it was comfort food.

Ganondorf had tried to put on his typical "I'm-the-King-of-Evil-and-I'm-too-cool-for-a-ball" attitude, sitting in a chair and crossing his arms. It wasn't too hard to see, however, that he was looking at Peach every chance he got.

And Dedede, who was now wishing he had accepted that date from Jigglypuff when she had asked ("Stupid Meta Knight taking my only stupid lifeline..."), looked ready to pound something into the ground with his hammer.

The five sat there, chuckling, sighing, eating, staring, and imagining they were smashing a blue puffball to a pulp, until one fat Italian plumber let out an enormous belch. You know, the kind that's followed by the sickening smell of whatever the person just belched up? Yep, that kind.

"Eww, Mario!" Pit faked a gag. "What did you eat?"

"The whole buffet table," muttered the penguin.

Mario sent Dedede a glare. "Shut up, fatty, you eat just as much as I do."

"Did you just call me fatty, fatty?"

"I think I just did!"

The two started arguing rather loudly. Pit slapped his head, Lucario nearly fell out of his chair laughing, and Ganon muttered something along the lines of, "Stupid moronic gluttons." Finally, the three were forced to interfere when Dedede grabbed his hammer and threatened to squash both Mario and the buffet table.

Pit grabbed the enormous mallet and held it back. "Stop, Dedede, that's dangerous!" he cried out.

"Yeah," Lucario chimed in, holding Mario back, "think of the poor buffet table!" This earned him a rather painful elbowing from the plumber. He let out a yelp and dropped Mario like a hot plate of pasta.

"Guys," said Ganondorf through his teeth, "people are _staring."_

The four stopped and looked at him. "Oh no, we can't have people _staring,"_ Dedede said. "Why, it would be horrible to add more _staring _to this group, because you're doing enough _staring _at Peach to last us a whole month!"

In less than a second, Ganon had his hand around the penguin's throat. "Say that again," he growled.

"You heard me," he choked out, "you've been looking at her the entire time we've been here."

"Why you..."

This time, none of them could stop the fight that ensued. In fact, they were all pulled into it. Multiple crashes, shouts, and clatters could be heard. Though people had indeed stared at first, they went back to their own business now. It wasn't an uncommon sight.

Unfortunately, one blue hedgehog got a bit too close. "Hey, guys?" asked Sonic. "Can I hang out with y—WHOA!" Pulled into the fight, he was swung around a couple of times until he landed full force into Pit's face, knocking them both over into a folding chair, which promptly folded on both of them. The chair landed right on Lucario's toe, causing him to jump up in pain and ram into a rampaging Dedede, who fell into Mario, who fell into Ganondorf, who fell into the punch bowl. And so it ended.

Mario, squashed underneath ten tons of fat blue penguin, struggled to pull himself free as he said, "What is it, Sonic?"

Said Sonic's lungs were at the present moment being crushed by the folding chair, so the most he could let out was a hoarse whimper. Pit had been lucky enough to only get his legs caught, and he said, "I second that emotion. Help!" Dedede pulled himself off of the plumber and began to pry the chair open. A punch-covered Ganondorf rose to help, too. Finally, the chair popped back open, and Sonic had a very happy reunion with air.

"Thanks," he gasped. "Can I hang out with you? Blaze is starting to freak me out."

"'Freak you out'?" Dedede questioned. "How so?"

The hedgehog rammed a thumb in the direction of the cat. "She's arguing with Peach," he said. It was true, the princess and Blaze were indeed arguing. Not much could be heard, but they were able to pick out bits and pieces, such as "Falco" and "I called first." Poor Bowser, held in Peach's death grip, had been dragged into this mess and, noticing the dateless group (plus Sonic) staring at them, sent a _Dear god, I beg of you, get me out of here! _face.

Most of the group simply sighed with sympathy, but Ganon's eyes went wide. "What if she looks over here?!" he cried. "I'm covered in freakin' _punch! _I'll be right back!" The Gerudo made a one-man dash for the bathroom.

Sweatdrops from across the board.

"Sure, you can hang out here," said Lucario, offering Sonic the chair. A look of terror on his face, he politely refused. "Suit yourself," said the Aura Pokémon, sitting on it.

It folded again.

One excruciating excavation operation later, Lucario grabbed the chair and tossed it into the nearest trash can. "Good riddance!" he shouted. Just then, Ganon arrived.

"...You're still covered in punch," Dedede pointed out.

"Long line at the bathroom?" asked the angel.

Ganondorf shook his head. "More like _epic battle_ at the bathroom. R.O.B. and Game & Watch are near ready to gorge each other's eyes out over the bathrooms."

"Mr. Game & Watch doesn't have eyes," said Mario. He was ignored.

"Hey, hand me a few thousand of those napkins, why don't you?" the Gerudo asked. Sonic took the whole pile and handed it to him. "Thanks much."

Ganon started to wipe the punch off of him while the others sat down in moderately safe folding chairs and began talking.

"Mario, is it true that your brother's date is from another planet?" asked Pit.

"Galaxy, actually," he corrected. "Pass me a pancake."

Taking the plate and giving it to the plumber, Dedede said, "I can't believe Peach forced me to come."

"I can't believe Peach came up with this stupid idea in the first place," sighed Lucario. "It's her fault that I'm sitting here watching my Aura Spheres scare the heck out of people."

Ganondorf, finally punch-free, glared at him. "Don't blame Peach!" he snapped.

"You know what, Ganon?" said the angel. "You seem to like Peach so much, how about you go ask her to dance with you?"

"WHAT?!"

Both Mario and Ganon shouted this. Face turning red, the plumber returned to his pancake. "I'm not pining!" he added quickly.

The King of Evil's face was also red. "Are you kidding me? I think Bowser sharpened his claws!"

"Now, not to be mean to Peach or anything," Lucario said, "but I'm pretty sure that, at the moment, Bowser would be happy to give her up for a few minutes." They all looked back to Peach, who was still arguing with Blaze and still holding a certain Koopa captive.

"...Fine," said Ganon at last.

He got up, brushed himself off, and casually walked away. The rest of them watched him go. Then, Lucario rose as well.

"Where are you going?" Sonic asked. The Aura Pokémon sent him a devious grin.

"I'm going to get my camera," he said. "Do you know how many awkward pictures we could get out of this?"

* * *

Alright. She just had to breathe. Slowly. In and out. Nice, deep...

Aw, screw it. Her heart rate was making a supersonic jet look slow.

Jigglypuff glanced over towards Meta Knight, her hand still in his. So far, there hadn't been very many good dancing songs. Crazy Hand had somehow convinced Peach to give him the position of "Honorary Ball DJ of Awesomeness." Self-named, obviously. But it made for songs of many different genres, including that one heavy metal one that made Peach look like she was about to die multiple times.

Long story short, though. They hadn't danced yet. The two had walked around, basically staying with Samus and Wolf, talking to some people and their dates. That was it.

The butterflies in her stomach were getting impatient.

Well, that was a lie. Half of the butterflies in Jiggly's stomach were getting impatient. The other half was scared stiff. For, despite all her hype and excitement, while she was walking down the stairs, she was truly nervous. She was still truly nervous. She was having a good time, but she was still truly nervous.

But if Meta was nervous, he didn't show it. He seemed perfectly calm as they walked around, squeezing back whenever she squeezed his hand. Jiggly always wished that she was able to see behind that mask. Sure, Meta would drop hints at his emotions with his eyes, and usually his tone of voice, which Jiggly had learned to follow fairly well after knowing him for so long. But when he truly went to the trouble to hide his feelings, to keep his voice where he wanted it to be, to keep his eyes that bright amber, his emotions remained hidden even to her.

And that was why, even though they were now the best of friends, Meta Knight was still one of the most mysterious people Jigglypuff had ever met.

"Jigglypuff, are you there?" His voice brought her back into reality.

"Huh?" Samus, standing next to them, laughed.

"Jiggs, we've been calling your name for the past minute," she said.

Wolf pointed a clawed finger. "Yeah," he said, "look!" The balloon Pokémon followed his claw to see a sight she would have never expected to see in the entirety of her life.

She squinted, disbelieving. "That's...That's not Ganondorf, is it?"

"It is," said Meta. "Hard to believe he's dancing with Peach."

"It's not even that good of a dancing song," observed Wolf. "Though I'm not an expert on dancing songs, not at all!" he added quickly.

Samus wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know, that's what I love about you, Wolf," she said, though she probably didn't realize what she was saying. "Face it. You know more about girl stuff than I do."

"I don't!"

"You do," she laughed.

"Don't!"

Meta and Jiggly chuckled. _They _are_ cute together, _thought Jiggly. _Adorable. _And, suddenly, a memory flashed through her head.

_"Well, you two are such good friends," the princess told her, "and you guys _do _make a cute...ouch!"_

Of course, Samus's elbow had cut off the rest of the sentence, but now Jigglypuff found herself thinking. Did Peach mean to say that...she and Meta Knight...made a cute...couple?

But, no! They were friends! F-R-I-E-N-D-S, friends. There was no way that they were anything more! She was a hyperactive, slightly annoying ball of fluff. He was...He was amazing. He wouldn't even dream of considering her anything other than a friend. It was impossible! There was no way that she and cool, smart, caring, mysterious, plain out amazing Meta Knight could ever, ever, be anything more than friends.

But she was fine with that. It was just the way it would be. Friends will be friends and everything like that, and she had no problem with it, no, no problem at all. No problem at all, nope, not even the fact that, who was she kidding, she was completely and totally _not _fine with it and regretted every moment now how it was never going to change, but she probably should stop thinking about it before she completely burst into tears.

When had it started? Just now, as she was thinking about it? The night of the horror movie? The sunset? Or had it been from the beginning, lying in the shadows, ready to pounce at now of all times?

Jigglypuff took a deep breath. Alright, calming down now. He was here, with her, even though he'd never feel anything for her, so, maybe, for tonight, she could just pretend and maybe be content with herself.

Suddenly, Bowser appeared right next to them. "Hey," he said. "Why are we all staring at Peach and Ganon?"

"I can't believe you let him dance with her," said Samus.

"Well, if you had to endure a fifteen minute argument on which stupid call to that Katt Monroe chick got through first, you'd do anything to get away for a few minutes." Then he cringed. "Don't tell Peach I said that, though," he added.

They all nodded. Strange as it sounded, they did want Bowser in one piece by the time the ball was over.

The Koopa clicked his claws together. "Oh, Meta?" he asked. "Can I ask you something?" He glanced around the group, particularly at Samus and Jiggly. "In private?"

Meta looked over to the balloon Pokémon. Though she really, _really _didn't want to let go, she released his hand and nodded. "Be right back," he told her quietly. Then he followed Bowser. Wolf, curiosity sparked, immediately gave the same response and slinked after them.

The two girls were left alone. Samus said, "Should we go, too?" Jigglypuff shrugged.

"I think I'm gonna go to the buffet for a minute." Maybe some food in her system would calm her down a bit. "You do what you want," she said. The bounty hunter instantly got up and followed her date. Jiggly felt a smile creep onto her face, and then she left for the table of food.

She had barely picked up a plate when she saw another sight she would never had expected to see in the entirety of her life.

"Oh. My. God. Kirby?!"

"Hi Jigglypuff!"

The pink puffball looked like the equivalent of Tiny Tim after he had been run over by two cars and sustained major head injuries. He was covered from head to toe in bandages and was leaning on an oversized crutch. In his other stubby hand was a plate full of food that looked heavy enough to topple him over.

"K-Kirby?! You made it?!" she stuttered in disbelief. Well, this was awkward. How was she supposed to tell him that she was at the ball with his rival?

"Yep!" said Kirby happily. "Peach came in this morning and said that I'd be able to go to the ball tonight!" He stuffed a chicken leg in his mouth. Jiggly stayed quiet.

_Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap what to say what to do oh crap oh crap..._

Kirby seemed to notice. "What's wrong, Jiggs?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing!" she replied. He smiled.

"Jigglypuff, I know that you're here with Meta Knight," he said.

The balloon Pokémon was hit with that weird feeling you get when you know that you look like an idiot but you really can't do anything about it. "You...You do?" she asked. "You're...okay with it?"

Kirby laughed. "Yeah, I am. You had no idea I was coming until now, obviously." He began to wobble a little bit, probably because of the plate, so Jiggly quickly grabbed him a chair and made him put the food on the table. "And, besides," he said, "I think it's better that you go with him anyway."

The idiot feeling hit again. "Wh-what?!"

The pink puffball made a motion for her to sit down as well. "Did I ever tell you," he asked, "about what Meta Knight was like before he came here?" She shook her head. "Well, he was nowhere near what he's like now," Kirby explained. "Back then, he was all stiff, cold, distant. He talked to nobody that he didn't have to. I thought he was one of the strangest, most antisocial people I'd ever met." He smiled at her. "Then, he got the invitation to stay at Smash Mansion. I, well, kind of forced him to accept," he laughed. "But, anyway, once he got there, he started to, well, change."

Kirby paused, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to give himself a moment to think if he should tell her or not.

"He started to change...when he met you," he said at last. "He was happier, he was talking more. I think..." He trailed off.

"You think what?" asked Jiggly, eyes wide, eager to hear more. Kirby shook his head.

"I'm just making assumptions," he said. "It's nothing."

Jigglypuff made the best puppy dog face she could muster. "Please tell me!" she said, sniffling. "Please?"

Kirby simply ignored her. "I said it's nothing."

"Five pounds of fudge says it's not."

"I think..." Kirby said, without missing a beat, "...that the reason he started changing is because he _likes_ you."

Okay, this time, the idiot feeling went _beyond _the idiot feeling. Jigglypuff felt her mouth dropping fifteen inches. "...You're joking with me. That's mean, Kirby," she said.

"I'm not joking," he said. "In fact, I'm fairly certain that I'm right."

Jiggly shook her head. "No, that's not possible."

Kirby smiled. "How about you ask him yourself?" he said, motioning to the now-approaching Meta, followed by Bowser, somewhat sullen, and Samus and Wolf, laughing immensely.

"First Wolf, now Bowser," she heard Meta muttering. "What do I look like, the romance guru? Holy heck...Kirby?"

"Hola, Meta!" said the pile of bandages. The masked warrior gave a questioning look.

"Are you...alright?"

"Are you kidding me? Did you _see_ this plate?!" Kirby motioned towards his food goldmine.

Meta sighed. "I forgot," he said. "If there's food, you're always alright." Just then, an actual _dancing _song came on (really? I'm astounded.)

Samus immediately grabbed Wolf and pulled him out onto the dance floor, shouting to Bowser, "Go steal your woman back!" Bowser looked to the three puffballs.

"Is it me, or did that raspberry lemonade Samus had have a bit too much sugar on the edge of the cup?" They shrugged, and the Koopa went off to go grab Peach.

Meta Knight turned to Jigglypuff. "Jiggly, do you want to...?" She was already up and at his side, hand in his.

"Sure," she answered, smiling. She squeezed his hand again, like she had done at least fifty times during this ball. And, for the fiftieth time, he squeezed back. The two started for the dance floor, and Jiggly gave Kirby a small wave.

The last thing she saw of him before he buried his face in food was him mouthing, "He _so _likes you."

* * *

"...Mids, you look awesome tonight."

Midna felt a blush form on her face. "Oh...Thanks, Link." Link smiled, and she smiled back, though shakily. The present she had bought was tucked safely in the black and white pocketbook that matched her dress perfectly. She hoped that Blaze was right, that it would work.

The two were sitting down with their food at the present moment. Link had practically inhaled his meal, but Midna had barely touched hers out of nerves. Right now, looking at the Hero of Light was turning her face the same shade as her hair, so she glanced around the room.

There were couples everywhere: Wario and Mona (at the buffet table); Ike and Lyn (the former shamelessly flirting with the latter); Snake and Mei Ling (the former being shamelessly _insulted _by the latter); Peach and Ganondorf...Peach and Ganondorf?! She didn't want to know. But (with the exception of Snake) they all seemed to be having a good time. So why couldn't she just suck it up and have a good time, too?

It was the present. Definitely the present. The fear that, when she gave it to Link, that he wouldn't like it, or, even worse, that he would like it, but that he wouldn't realize what it meant, what _she_ meant, what she _felt._ She was after a Cinderella ending, and some part of her knew that her expectations were a tad too high.

"Midna, you're going to be starved the rest of the night if you don't eat that," he said. She looked up.

"Oh, I'm not that hungry," she said quickly.

Link gave her a look. "You're _always _hungry, Mids. What's wrong?"

She blushed. "Nothing!" she said. He shrugged and returned to his food, but not before giving her another strange look. Midna sighed. There was no way she would be able to do this. She was going to completely fall apart before the first dance.

And as if "first dance" were the magic words, the techno music that had been previously playing suddenly switched to a nice, slow song. Perfect for dancing.

_Here's my chance!_

Midna looked to Link. He glanced between her, the dance floor, and the last piece of chicken he had on his plate, but then he got up and offered her his hand. She felt her heart doing somersaults. Pulling herself together, Midna took the hand and followed him onto the dance floor.

Now, if ever there was someone who couldn't dance for his life, it would have to be Link. Look up "two left feet" in the dictionary and you'll see his picture right next to it. But, at the moment, Midna didn't care. Sure, it was pretty obvious that she was leading as they danced. But, still...

"Hey, Midna?" said Link.

"Yeah?"

"Did I tell you you look awesome tonight?"

See? _This_ was why she didn't care. "You could always tell me again," she sighed.

Link grinned. "You look awesome tonight."

Her heart changed from somersaults to flips. Soon, the talking stopped. It was just her and him, gazing into each other's eyes. Link stepped on her foot more than a few times, but she didn't even feel it. There was nothing in her mind except those eyes.

The song began to draw to a close. Midna finally broke eye contact, resting her head on Link's shoulder. She felt the arm around her waist pull her in a bit closer. And then, she heard a little voice in her head.

_"At a nice romantic moment," said Blaze._

The present! A nice romantic moment?

_"Like NOW!!" shouted the Blaze-in-Midna's-head._

Oh! Oh! Now! The song ended, but Midna couldn't break away.

"Link?" she asked.

He pulled away so that he could look at her. "Yeah, Mids?"

Her hand went for her pocketbook, but her eyes were still on his. "I...I've got something for you," she stuttered, finally managing to get the small box out of the pocketbook. Finally forced to let go of him, she handed him the box.

Link's eyes went wide, like a young boy's at Christmastime. Carefully, he tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box. Midna held her breath as he pulled it out.

"...It's a piece of hawk grass!" he said, looking at it. Midna let out a breath of relief. There was definitely delight in his voice.

"Remember when you told me how you always regretted that Master Hand never planted hawk grass?" she asked. The Hero of Light nodded, putting the grass up to his lips and blowing a note. "Well," she continued, "I just thought...maybe...it would remind you of what we did together, you know." It sounded horrible, and her face was bright red. "Just so...you'd...remember me..."

Link smiled at her. "I'd never forget you, Mids," he said. "Thanks so much." And he leaned over and kissed her.

Midna's heart did a triple flip and meowed. She was seeing stars. _Oh my god, oh my god, thank you, Blaze!_

After an initial moment of shock, she leaned into the kiss, too. It was everything she had hoped for. Everything and more. _Well, _she thought, _maybe a lucky few get a Cinderella ending, after all._

Finally, they broke away. Midna swore she heard Zelda's voice screaming, "Go Midna!" in the background. She smiled. Link smiled back.

"Mids," he said again, "you look awesome tonight."

She took his hand. "You do, too."

* * *

Again, sorry if it was horrible. The next one will be up much sooner, I promise. It has to be, or brickthrower21 will get mad at me. ;p (hands him metal objects) You know what to do with these if I get too slow.

Cookies to all my reviewers! And extra cookies if you catch the Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door reference!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	12. Potions and Frying Pans

So the unthinkable has happened: UM has updated. But this time I'm not going to bore you with really long apologies, because you just want to read and not listen to me grovel. I think this chapter is pretty short, but Word said it was 10 pages, so I cut it off there. Enjoy!

Marth: (pokes head in) UM owns nothing except the plot itself!!

Me: Oh, and as an added, slightly strange note, when I was reading over Bowser's little "crash and burn," _Crash and Burn _by Blues Traveler started playing on my iPod. XD Oh, and I hope that section is okay; it was my first time attempting to write something like that. Like what? Read and maybe you'll see.

* * *

If ever there was a moment to think to yourself, _Darn, I should have taken dance lessons when I had the chance, _it would have been right then.

Poor Meta Knight. Here he was, kind of stepping back and forth in a meager attempt to dance, trying to keep his eyes on his feet, other couples that he might smash them into, _and_ Jigglypuff, all at the same time. It was kinda clear to see that the last of the three got the most attention, since he nearly bumped into Wolf and Samus twice and almost lost his footing way too many times to count, but, well, what's a puffball to do?

They had been dancing for almost half the song now, and Meta hadn't said a word. God, what had come over him? Why couldn't he just open his mouth and say something? What would he say? _You're amazing. You're beautiful. I couldn't live without you. I love you._

Ha. Yeah, right. Like he could truly say _that._

First off, besides sounding both random _and _awkward simultaneously, he still wasn't sure of it. _Love,_ he attempted to convince himself, could be too strong of a word. There was probably some other explanation for the fuzzy feelings, the blushing, the tongue-tied-ness, the...Um...Alright, maybe that point wasn't quite valid. But what also concerned him was the fact that some little part of his brain (okay, maybe a _big _part of his brain) kept nagging at him, bugging him, poking him with a stick and shouting, "One-sided! One-sided!" over and over again. The odds that Jiggly would actually like him back, he figured, were pretty slim. Slim to none. Zero to none, even. So why embarrass both himself and her?

Right. There was absolutely no reason. And so Meta was content, as much as he could be, with dancing and wishing.

Crap. He nearly ran into Diddy and Dixie Kong, a look of pure disgust on the latter's face. Jigglypuff noticed this and stuck out her tongue. Dixie responded in kind, and quickly turned her back. Meta sighed as she and Candy retreated into the arms of their dates, who were both dressed in their jet black monkey suits (_Oh no, _he inwardly groaned, _I did _not _just say that._). Jiggs glared at them, but then her emerald eyes went back to him, and she smiled sheepishly. He felt his heart melt, and he could do nothing but smile back.

They stayed like that, in comfortable silence, until the song finally drew to a close. Jiggly squeezed his hand again. Looking straight into her eyes, he squeezed back. The final chord rang out and gave way to one of the new rap songs that had been overplayed (as usual) on the radio. The two crept off the dance floor, hands still intertwined. Was that Kirby, giving him a thumbs up with the one hand not completely mummified with bandages? He didn't know. Right now he was too busy wondering if he should congratulate himself for making it through the dance without fainting or slap himself for the decision to leave that opportunity on the doorstep.

Aw, god, how he hated second thoughts.

You know what, you know what, he was just going to stop thinking about that and focus on enjoying himself tonight. Yeah, sounded like a plan. Good. Finally, he had settled on something.

"Hey, Meta?"

One look at her and _that_ plan was shot. "What is it, Jiggly?" Meta asked.

She seemed to almost falter for a moment. "…Thanks. For taking me and everything."

"…You're welcome." Was that what she was really going to say? _Of course it was, _he thought. _Stop getting your hopes up, it hurts more when you fall._

Jigglypuff didn't show any other signs of indecisiveness. "So," she asked, "what did Bowser want?"

Meta sighed. "More romance advice," he muttered. "Like I'd really know anything about that. Why is everyone coming to me, of all people?"

"Well, I guess they consider you a good person to go to," she offered. "I mean, you _are_ really smart, and understanding, you know?" Meta Knight didn't notice the small blush creeping its way onto her face, most likely because he was concerned about the one creeping onto his own.

"…If that's what you think, then," he managed to choke out. _I'm going to be dead before the night's over. Anyone taking bets on how long I've got?_

Jiggly gave a small, cute little smile. "Hey, there's Zelda and Marth. Let's go talk to them!" They approached the two, who were sitting around, talking. "Hi guys!" said the pink puffball happily.

Zelda waved. "Hi, Jiggs, hi, Meta!" she said. Marth, however, had to take a few moments before he was able to speak, seeing as he was still simply infatuated with the Hyrulian princess.

"Oh, hi," he mumbled, only just regaining the ability to compose simple sentences. Zelda giggled.

"Good morning, sunshine!"

Marth blinked. "Huh? It's morning already?"

Suddenly, Samus jumped in between Marth and Zelda, causing the former to leap fifteen feet and the latter to nearly fall off her chair. "Konnichiwa!" the bounty hunter shouted. "Jiggly, Zelda, I need your help _now!"_ With that, she grabbed the princess and the puff and ran off, leaving their dates fairly confused.

"…Hey, Meta," said Marth, "can I ask—?"

"No."

The blue-haired princess looked at him. "You don't even know what I'm going—"

"Trust me, I know," said the Star Warrior. "Twice is enough, thanks." Sighing, Marth turned and stared after Zelda.

It wasn't long before his eyes went wide. "What are they _doing?!"_ he said. Curious, Meta glanced over.

"Hmm…It looks like they're spiking that punch with some kind of love potion or something," he observed.

"Well, that's not good," said Marth.

Meta shook his head. "Not particularly."

The two sat there, until it dawned on them exactly what was going on.

"HOLY FUDGE!" shouted Marth. "We've got to stop them before something terrible happens!"

Meta Knight glanced up at the ceiling. "The consequences…Why don't they ever think of the _consequences?!"_

"Yeah, like Wario falling in love with his butt!"

Meta gave the panicked prince a disturbed look. "…I don't want to know what goes on in that deranged mind of yours," he muttered.

The two quickly went over to the three girls. "Drop the love potion, we've got you surrounded!" shouted Marth.

"Yes, Marth," said Zelda, "the two of you have got the three of us surrounded."

"And this isn't a love potion anyway!" said Samus matter-of-factly.

The Star Warrior looked at the bottle. "Then why does it say 'Love Potion' on it?" he asked.

The bounty hunter shook her head. "No, it doesn't!" she said. "You obviously can't read! It says…Um…Oh. It does say 'Love Potion,' doesn't it?" She laughed nervously.

"I didn't have anything to do with this, honest!" cried Jigglypuff, hiding behind Zelda, who held up a mini white flag in surrender.

Meta sighed. "Give me that," he said, hand outstretched. Pouting, Samus dropped the bottle in his hand. However, none of them noticed a fat Italian man waddling up behind them with his date.

"Sweet, more punch!" shouted Wario happily, with Mona rolling her eyes behind him.

Marth, Meta, Samus, Jiggly, and Zelda all whizzed around. "WARIO, NO!"

_Glug, glug, glug!_

Too late.

Wario's eyes grew three times larger than normal. Mona looked at him, concerned. "Wario, are you okay?"

Suddenly, the Italian turned to her, hearts in his eyes. "Of course I'm okay! I love you! You mean more to me than anything! Will you marry me?!" He was on his knees, a diamond ring in his hand ("I think that's mine!" muttered Zelda.). Mona was shocked. She looked from Wario to the five of them, to Wario and then the five of them again.

"I like this new Wario!" she said, beaming. They gave her shaky grins back.

"Shall we walk away slowly and pretend this never happened?" whispered Marth. They all nodded and started to leave.

Once again, like a reflex, Jiggly's hand went to Meta's. He looked at her, and then to the love potion still in his hand. Sighing and shaking his head, he gave it one last wistful glance and tossed it into the nearest trash can.

_

* * *

_

…Alright, alright, tonight's the night I tell her. I mean, I can't deny it any longer. All that other stuff I've been forcing myself to believe: lies. Completely untrue. It'll blow up in my face if I ignore it any longer. I mean, we've known each other long enough. She's so sweet. I've saved her so many times, it's natural, even expected, that she'd like me the way I…I…like…her…

_…Okay, this is really, really…bad…Yeah, that's the word. First off, I'm the King of Evil. Second off, she's not even from my world! This wouldn't work, not at all. We have no history together, not like her and Mario, not like her and, heck, Bowser! I don't know if I can compete with either of those two. But…She danced with me. That means I have a chance! It may be a small one, but, heck, I'll take what I've got…_

_…It was going to happen eventually. Everything was basically leading up to it. I just don't know what to say, what to do. Meta was no help, but who else could I ask? It's a simple concept, I guess. Three words. Three little words. I…Um…No, wait, "um" doesn't count…Oh, now I've confused myself. Well, I'll just wing it. Things will turn out okay. She's expecting it, I think, since I asked her here in the first place. Yeah. Just wing it. …This is going to crash and burn, isn't it?..._

_…Oh, crud, she just looked at me. I can't feel my legs…_

_…Walking towards her, slowly, one step at a time. God, I must look like an idiot, barely able to walk. Aw, this is really, really, _really _bad. Hehe…Put one foot in front of the other…_

_…Crash and burn, crash and burn, crash and burn…_

_…Seriously, I can't feel my legs…_

_…And soon you'll be walkin' out the door…_

_…Almost there…She's right there…It's all or nothing. Here it goes. Just gotta walk up and say it. Simple as that. Simple…Yeah…_

_…Here it is. All those years of rescuing and saving and kisses on the cheek amount up to this. Inhale…Exhale…Say the words…_

_…The phrase that I used to hate so much. Crud. Never thought that I'd actually use this one day. Time to see if it works. Oh…_

_…Ready? Am I ready now? Am I ready _now?_..._

"Peach…"

"…I…"

"…love…"

"…you!"

The blonde-haired princess glanced up, feeling her mouth drop. Not one, no, not two, but _three! Three_ guys standing in front of her with hopeful looks on their faces. "Um…Um…" Well, what was she supposed to say? Because, Mario, Ganondorf, _and _Bowser had all confessed their love to her. At the same time.

Finally breaking free from the initial "I just said 'I love you'" shock, the three guys in question suddenly realized that the others had said it, too. And, as ancient animal (and Koopa, and Gerudo) instinct goes, jealousy and feeling threatened can quickly turn aggressive.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

_Very _aggressive.

The three jumped at each other, each attempting to somehow destroy the other two by any means possible, while a still pale Peach watched on in horror.

"Um, uh, guys?"

"Yes?" said all three in such hopeful voices that Peach's heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. Fortunately, she didn't have to come up with anything else to say, because Bowser had taken the opportunity to smash Mario into Ganon's back and started the fight again. By now, a few people had started to wonder what was going on, and a crowd began to gather. Peach's face turned bright red.

"Hey, Link, déjà vu, right?" said Ike jokingly, elbowing him.

The Hyrulian sighed. "Do you _ever _take anything seriously, Ike?" he muttered.

Meanwhile, the fight grew even more gruesome. It made a game of rugby look almost like a tea party. Peach knew it had to be broken up, but how? What was she supposed to do? Just choose one?! No. That would cause even more of a scene than right now. She inhaled deeply.

Maybe her secret weapon would work.

"Mario?"

The plumber's head went up like a rocket.

"Ganondorf?" Up went the Gerudo's head as well. "Bowser?" The Koopa looked up hopefully.

Peach took another deep breath, while the whole rest of the room held theirs. Face still red, she walked up to the three of them. "Guys?" she asked.

"Uh-huh?" they all murmured in a dazed, love-struck kind of tone.

The princess faltered for a moment. Then, she whacked each guy over the head with a frying pan.

"You _morons!" _she snarled. "Out of the three of you, _none _of you even _thought _to check to see if you were the only one asking? Now look what you've done! You've thrown yourselves into some kind of death-match, _me _into one really awkward situation, _and _you're causing a commotion so big, the fate of this _ball _is at stake!" Oh, god. When she exploded, she _exploded. _Fuming, she walked away, leaving everyone, not just the three with the bumps on their heads, stunned.

There was complete silence, until Ganon muttered, "What a woman."

Bowser glared at him as everyone else started to return to their own business. "'What a woman'? You do realize we've just dropped a nuclear bomb on Peach's life, right?!" he shouted. Ganondorf and Mario both glanced at each other, both knowing that the Koopa was right.

The Italian sighed. "Alright, guys, how about this?" he asked. "We call a temporary truce and go help Peach calm down."

"Truce? I don't know the meaning of the word!" Ganon laughed. He was met with a claw to his throat.

"Start carrying a dictionary," Bowser growled.

Mario glanced up at the ceiling. "I'm guessing that was a bad idea?"

"Oh no, a truce is just what we need," the Koopa said, "because it would be the only thing keeping me from slitting both of your throats."

"Lovely to know how much you care," said the Gerudo casually. Bowser shot him another glare.

"Alright, guys, if we're not going to do this truce thing, I'm going to Peach by myself!" Mario shouted finally, walking after the Mushroom Kingdom princess.

Koopa looked at Gerudo. Gerudo looked at Koopa. And then they both took off, running after him.

* * *

Now that the love potion was safely chucked in the trash can (and Wario's digestive track), Marth had gone into interrogation mode (he had even asked Meta to do the good cop-bad cop routine with him), bombarding Samus with questions.

"So who was the love potion for?"

"Where did you get it?"

"Why did you choose the punch?"

Samus opened an eye lazily. "No comment."

Marth's face turned red. "Judge, permission to treat the witness as hostile!" he shouted, turning to Zelda.

Zelda, who obviously hadn't brushed up on her _Law & Order_ know-how, blinked and said, not quite sure of herself, "Denied?"

Meanwhile, Jiggly laughed quietly to herself. Samus would never dream of letting it slip that the love potion, which she had made herself, was actually meant for Wolf. She just hadn't been thinking when she had dumped the whole thing into the punch bowl. It was supposed to be temporary, however, so hopefully Wario would be back to his normal, greedy, fat lump self.

It was too bad. She really would have liked to try it out. Her eyes went to Meta, who was still holding her hand (but that was a given, wasn't it?). If he did like her, as Kirby was convinced was true, would the love potion have done anything? Would he have just remained the same? Or would be down on his knees, proposing, just like Wario?

Jigglypuff laughed. Meta Knight? Proposing? That was pretty hilarious when you pictured it. The Star Warrior turned to her. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing!" she giggled. Though not convinced, Meta shrugged and let it go.

At that moment, Wolf joined them, punch in hand. "Samus, where were you?" he asked.

Marth coughed. "Poisoning the punch!" he muttered quickly. The Star Wolf commander looked to the bounty hunter, who kinda shrugged nonchalantly as if to say, _Yeah, and what of it?_

"...I don't want to know," said Wolf. Secretly, though, he poured the cup of punch into the trash can behind him. At least he hadn't had any yet…

The blue-haired prince sighed, giving up on his interrogation and returning to Zelda's side. Samus, in turn, returned to Wolf's, and the group decided to split up for a little while. _Good, _Jiggly thought. It was easier to try to read Meta's emotions if she didn't have four not-particularly-sane people also jabbing in her ear at the same time.

But, now that she was alone with him, the awkward feeling she had before crept back in. But she couldn't let that get her down. She had a mission: find out if Meta Knight liked her _without _revealing that she liked him herself. Much easier said than done. …Unless, of course, you tried to say it ten times fast without slipping up, but that's really beside the point.

Jiggs squeezed his hand. He squeezed back. (AGAIN.) Okay. One tally for the "yes" side. But still, his unreadable eyes…Ugh! Stupid mask! She sighed. Where were Mewtwo and his mind-reading powers when you needed them?!

Meta must have heard her sigh, because he turned to her and asked, "Is something wrong, Jiggs?"

She shook her head, faking a peppy smile and still attempting to read his eyes. "Of course not!" she said. "This is the most fun I've had since…forever!" Jiggly could feel the smile behind Meta Knight's mask, and she smiled back.

"Same here," he said. "…I'm glad I came."

The balloon Pokémon blushed a bit. "Well, I'm glad you came, too," she said. She secretly wished that they could dance again. The first dance was so short…But Crazy Hand had decided that alternative rock was better than love songs, so she had to make due.

Then, she had an idea. All good romantic scenes take place outside, right? "Hey, Meta," she asked, "do you want to go out to the garden for a while?"

Meta seemed surprised but not unhappy. "Oh, alright," he agreed. The two puffballs walked together into the sweet, night air. Jigglypuff inched a little closer to Meta Knight, and he inched closer to her. They looked out to the stars together, and there was a comfortable silence for a while.

All the while, Jiggs was thinking. _Why, Meta? _she thought. _Why do you have to be so enigmatic? You're making my job so much harder. _She let out a small sigh and smiled. _I'll unravel your secrets soon enough, _she promised herself. _Just wait and see._

_Oh, god, I love that puffball._

And then, the strangest thing happened. Meta turned to her. "Jigglypuff…" he began, and for the first time Jiggs noticed a small bit of hesitance in his voice. "…Would you like to go flying with me?"

It took a few seconds for her mind to comprehend this, and a few more seconds for her mind to realize that she had said, "Yes," by reflex. Meta smiled again, genuinely surprised that she had said yes.

"Alright then," he said, "hold on." He gave her a few seconds to get ready, then his cape transformed into wings. Meta had just given a huge flap when Jiggs realized that she was a bit of an acrophobic.

But then they were off into the night sky, and the world disappeared behind them.

* * *

Meh, I hated cutting it off like that. Good news, though: I know basically where the story's going from here. The next chapter's the big one, guys (though not the end; bad thing about side-plots is the loose-ends to tie up)! I hope you're still reading despite my constant lateness, and I hope that your winter holidays went well! Since I obviously missed them. (glares at herself...wait, how's that possible?)

Remember, the big green button down there is a cookie dispenser! Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	13. Flight

Well, looky here. I'm actually back from my six-month hiatus (because that sounds better than the fact that I couldn't get off my lazy butt and write). THIS IS IT. The big chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it, despite the extreme wait. To do our disclaimer, I'm bringing back our stars: Meta and Jiggly! Take it away, puffballs!

Meta Knight: Hmph. UM owns nothing.

Jigglypuff: _Through the Fire and Flames _belongs to Dragonforce. Read, please! Because I'm assuming that's why you're still here.

Meta Knight: Don't call me a puffball again, UM.

Jigglypuff: Meta, I'm sorry to say it, but that's the whole name of our pairing. (points to PuffballShipping on UM's profile)

Meta Knight: ...Ugh...

* * *

"…Do we really have to do this?"

Bowser spat a bit of smoke in the plumber's direction. "Yes, we have to do this," he said. "I need to assure myself that neither of you will turn traitor and try to grab Peach for yourself."

"But do we have to go to such an extreme?" asked Mario.

"Yes," said the Koopa, scratching his claw so that it bled the tiniest bit. "Blood pacts can't be broken."

"You've just assured me that you're a loon," Ganon said. "A blood pact over something like this is pointless." But he scratched his hand all the same. Both looked at Mario.

The Italian bit his lip. "…This is how AIDs is spread, you know?!" he stuttered.

"Well, it's a good thing none of us have AIDs then, right?" said Ganondorf. The other two looked at each other. "Right?"

Bowser snorted. "Just scratch your freakin' hand already!"

"I'm hemophobic!" cried the plumber.

"And I'm Chuck Norris. Just do it, wuss!"

Ganondorf muttered something along the lines of, "Chuck Norris would kick both your backsides with two hands tied behind his back," but he was ignored.

After much arguing, even more pointless cursing, and quite a few threats on the other's life, Bowser finally gave up on the blood pact and settled for whacking Mario upside the head instead. Angry, but satisfied at least with the fact he didn't have to see his own blood, Mario merely glared at the Koopa and said, "Let's get this over with."

Then arose the problem. After a quick glance around the gym, the three now-allies could not find Princess Peach Toadstool anywhere. "Alright, let's split up and ask where she went," said Bowser.

"Who died and made you head of this alliance?" asked Ganon sourly.

"_I _died and made myself head of this alliance!" the Koopa shouted back, failing to realize what he was saying in his hurry to come up with a comeback.

"But you're not dead," Mario pointed out.

Bowser was getting angry. "Well, _someone's _going to be dead by the end of this if we don't cooperate, and I'll tell you this: it's not going to be me!"

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Ganondorf asked, but he went off to start asking. Mario went in the opposite direction, and Bowser, thoroughly satisfied with his leadership skills, turned another way.

The King of All Evil walked up to a small group of dancegoers; more specifically Snake, Mei Ling, Pikachu, Pichu, and Lucario (who had found his true calling and become the night's official photographer). "Guys, did you see where Peach went?" he asked.

Snake opened his mouth to answer, but Mei Ling cut in, "No, we haven't!" before he could speak.

"I didn't see her," said Pichu sweetly (She did everything sweetly. It was how she kept up her cute and cuddly image.).

Pikachu shook his head. "No clue," he said.

"Ooh, did wittle Ganny wose his cwush?" Lucario gushed, trying not to laugh.

"Did wittle Lucario lose his mind?" said Ganondorf. "Or did he never have one in the first place? Oh, that's right."

"Ha ha, funny," muttered the Pokémon. "But I the last time I saw her, she was headed for the ladies' room. By the way, that little scene back there?" He snickered. "Super smooth, Romeo."

Ganon narrowed his eyes. "You're a riot, Lucario," he said, "a real riot."

"I know, I know. Smile for the camera!" Before the King of Evil could do anything, Lucario had snapped a picture. He looked at the digital camera screen and grinned at the Gerudo's awkward face. Then he ran away, narrowly dodging Ganondorf's punch and shouting, "These are _so _going on Facebook!"

Meanwhile, Mario had gone, coincidently, to outside the bathrooms, asking around. He was met with no positive answers. No one had any idea where she had gone. The plumber had looked every place humanly possible in this area, and he had come up empty.

Of course, humanly possible did not include the girls' bathroom.

Obviously, Mario wasn't going in there. Horrible things happened in there, like…Lord above…Makeup… But he needed to find Peach, and leaving the ladies' room unchecked was like not looking in the cookie jar for a snack. It was just stupid. So Mario glanced around, and the first girl he saw was Katt Monroe. He didn't really know her, but from what he'd heard from Sonic she and Peach had at least talked. Maybe she'd do him a favor.

"For twenty bucks I will."

The Italian plumber was stunned. "Twenty bucks? For looking in the _bathroom?"_

The cat nodded. "Yep," she said. "My finding skills do not come cheap."

"But _twenty bucks?"_

"That's half of what anyone else would demand," she said. "I'd take the deal."

Mario sighed. He really didn't feel like asking anyone else to look. "Fine," he muttered, "but you need to go check first."

Katt wasn't taking that. "Fifty percent up front," she demanded, paw out. The plumber unwillingly stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a ten. _The things I do…Bowser better reimburse me._ First examining the bill to make sure it was real, Katt, satisfied, stuck it in her own pocket and walked into the bathroom.

And Mario waited.

And waited.

And waited.

He had just begun the fifteenth round of whistling the Jeopardy theme when the cat finally reemerged. "Not there," she said simply. "Ten bucks."

"Thanks," Mario grumbled, giving her another ten. Well, there went twenty bucks, down the drain and for nothing. As Katt returned to Falco's side, happily pawing her pay, he turned away, defeated.

Then, the plumber felt a tap on his shoulder. Behind him was Pit. "You were looking for Peach?" the angel asked. Mario nodded. "She went over to the buffet table," he said. "Kinda miffed, I think. I'd be careful."

"I'm glad you told me that _before _I paid the cat," he said. Then, nodding his thanks, he went off in that direction.

In another strange coincidence, Bowser had gone to check at none other than the buffet table. And, though no one would have guessed it, I'm sure, Peach was not there. So, after spending a good ten minutes looking, Bowser decided to reward himself with a break and a plate full of mashed potatoes.

He was leaning against the table (he had heard the stories about the folding chairs), forking huge globs of potato goop into his mouth when he felt a tap on his shoulder. The Koopa turned around.

There was Mario, clearly annoyed. "Eating? At a time like this?"

"Hey!" Bowser said. "I've been looking! And I got kinda hungry…"

The Italian sighed. "Well, I was told Peach was here. I'm assuming you haven't seen her." Bowser shook his head and continued eating. "Where haven't we looked?" he asked. Still chewing, the Koopa shrugged. "You're a _big help, _Bowser."

"I know you are, but what am I?" He returned to his food.

Ganondorf came up from behind them. "So much for splitting up then," he said. "Glad you guys are looking and not wasting your time sitting around and eating."

Mario's face went red. "Someone who _agrees _with me!" he muttered. "Come on, guys, we really need to stop fooling around." He glanced back and forth. "Bowser, did you even bother to _ask_ people if they've seen Peach?"

"Yes!" snorted the Koopa indignantly. There was silence. "…Alright, no," he admitted, "but that doesn't mean I didn't look!" Both Mario and Ganon sighed.

"Hey," came a voice from behind them. The three turned to see Samus and Wolf. Samus, who was clutching Wolf's claw like a security blanket, said, "You guys still looking for Peach?"

They all nodded.

"In the bathroom," she said, "freaking out. I think if any one of you went near her she'd probably flip out and kill something, but if you really want to talk to her, I'd suggest going there."

"THAT LITTLE LIAR!" Mario fumed. "I want my twenty back!" He grabbed both Ganondorf and Bowser by the arm and dragged them back in the direction of ladies' room, ready to blow.

Wolf looked to Samus. "Was that such a good idea, telling them where Peach was?"

The bounty hunter smiled slyly. "But of course," she said. "Peach isn't the only one allowed to play matchmaker around here."

Now, Wolf was not an idiot, and he said nothing about how sending three guys to Peach at the same time was more than likely going to cause some kind of explosion. No sir. He was just along for the ride.

* * *

This. Was. _Incredible._

No. It was _beyond _incredible. The cool night air rushing against her face; the beautiful, starry sky rising up to meet them; Meta's arms wrapped protectively around her. Jigglypuff had never experienced anything like it, and she doubted that she would again. She glanced toward Meta Knight, who had taken them around two stories above the ground and was just gliding now, probably resting his leathery wings. He looked back at her and smiled behind his mask. No words were exchanged. They didn't have to be.

The two kept flying, slowly but surely gaining altitude. The ball lights became only twinkling dots in the distance. Jiggs looked down, and she instinctively shuddered at the height. They were quite high above Smash Mansion now, maybe five stories in the air?

Meta faltered for a second. "Too high?" he asked her. She shook her head, knowing full well that he would fly right back down if she asked him to. He slowed a bit and stopped climbing, staying at the same altitude. They circled around the mansion twice.

Suddenly, Meta turned to her. "Would you like to go faster?" Jigglypuff caught excitement in his voice. She smiled. No hiding his emotions now.

"Sure," she said. She swore that he was grinning behind his mask as they picked up speed. After a minute, Jiggs felt them beginning to lose altitude at a rapid pace. She looked to Meta, whose wings were pulled back in a streamlined fashion. They were headed for the small lake on the west side of the mansion. _He wouldn't, would he?_ The water drew closer and closer. _Crap, I really hope not! _They were feet away now. Jiggly wanted to shut her eyes and keep them open at the same time. _Five, four, three, two…_

Inches from the lake's surface, Meta pulled up and flew straight ahead, hovering just above the lake. Small walls of water flew up on either side of them. Jigglypuff's eyes widen in wonder. _Amazing! _she thought. Meta seemed to have read her mind, and he looked to her, eyes blue and content. But he wasn't finished yet. Flying upward again, he did a loop-de-loop, went into another dive, and pulled up again.

"Show off," Jiggly said playfully. He laughed, and she did, too. Jiggly tightened her grip on him and snuggled in closer. Meta Knight slowed down a bit and just glided for a while, allowing both of them a rest.

All the while, this was strengthening Kirby's point. _Maybe…Maybe he _does_ like me… _Jiggs thought. _Should I ask him? That would be risking everything…But I feel like I've got a good shot. Maybe he'll say yes. God, I hope so! …But what if he says no? What do I do then? There'd never be moments like _this _again, that's for sure. _She let out a soft sigh, too quiet for Meta to hear. _But…He's here, and I'm here…Could there be any better proof? He's too nice to do something like this for me if he didn't feel anything, and he's been so kind…He'd do anything for me…_

Another thought entered her mind, shocking her. _What if I ask and he says yes only so not to hurt my feelings? He…He wouldn't do that, would he? No! _Jiggly couldn't believe she'd think that. _Meta's always honest, and he'd know it'd hurt me later. He wouldn't, not if it wasn't true. _All this thinking was hurting her brain, and she wanted to enjoy the moment _now, _while she knew it wouldn't go away.

_I _will _ask him, _she finally decided. _I'll ask once we land, and whatever happens after that happens. And that's that. _And she didn't think about the asking anymore. She only thought of him, of her wonderful knight, as they continued flying into the starry sky.

* * *

Crazy Hand nodded his fingers (no head, remember?) to his favorite metal song. _Strange_, he thought. _Princess Tangerine hasn't said anything to me yet. She didn't look too happy when I last saw her. _He scanned the makeshift ballroom. _Speaking of which, I haven't seen her since Marty-O, Ganondork, and Turtle-Boy confessed their love. Hmm… _Crazy Hand floated down from the DJ stand and floated around, looking for the three guys in question. Not seeing them, he decided he'd amuse himself and let the metal CD play for a while. Princess Blackberry wasn't there to yell at him, so it was time for some fun. He snuck up behind the first couple he saw and shouted, "BOO!" _Very_ loudly. Unfortunately, the couple happened to be Mark and Wanda, er, Marth and Zelda. And Marth didn't do well with loud, sudden noises.

"HOLY ALTIA!!"

Seconds later, Marth found himself in Zelda's arms, both of them blushing madly, while Crazy Hand floated away, snickering. Now, who else could he mess with? Ah, there was Fire-Kitty and her date, Spike the Groundhog-Thing. "Hi, Fire-Kitty!" he said, coming up to them.

"Blaze," she corrected him.

"Whatever you say, Fire-Kitty," the leftie said. "Hey, Spike."

Spike waved. "Yo, Crazy," he replied. Fire-Kitty looked at him kinda funny, like, _That's not your name…_ but he ignored her. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing much, just taking a break from my job as Honorary Ball DJ of Awesomeness. You?"

The groundhog-thing shook his head. "Nope, nothing." Then he winced as Fire-Kitty whacked him over the head. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"So am I nothing?" asked the cat. Spike shook his head nervously.

"No, no! Don't hit me again, Blaze!"

"Umm…Spike? Fire-Kitty?" said Crazy, jabbing his pinky finger behind them. They turned and saw quite an unwelcome sight: Blue-Dog-Boy with his camera, having just snapped a picture.

He let out a sinister laugh. "Perfect!" he said. "This is amazing! Come look at this, Crazy Hand!" Blue-Dog-Boy dashed over to the disembodied hand and held up the digital camera screen. By some lucky chance, he had gotten the shot just as Fire-Kitty's fist had come down on Spike's head.

Crazy Hand nodded his approval. "Excellent shot," he agreed. Fire-Kitty reached for the camera, but Blue-Dog-Boy yanked it away just in time. He pulled down his eyelid and stuck out his tongue, letting out a mad laugh as he ran away. Fire-Kitty raced after him, pulling Spike with her.

"GET ME THAT PICTURE!" she shouted, ignoring Spike's shouts of discontent and pain as he was dragged across the floor.

"Ah," said Crazy, "mischief managed." Then he moved on to his next victim. He scanned the room, his sights fixing on the particular person he had in mind. Target locked. Marshmallow locked, to be more specific. Crazy Hand shot off like a rocket towards Kirby, the Walking Pink Marshmallow. The puffball had, at the moment, a pile of food on his plate at least three times his size. It was a like a huge bulls-eye, begging Crazy, "Hit me! Make a huge mess! Do it, do it, do it!" And who was he to disobey the almighty food pile? He closed in. Impact in five, four, three two, one, now!

…He missed. How in the name of all that was deranged and mentally unstable did he miss? One look at Kirby's bandaged face and the leftie knew how. The Walking Pink Marshmallow had moved out of the way just in time, and his smirk was huge._ Cocky _huge. "Oh, bring it, 'Mallow," Crazy Hand growled. He was met with a piece of roast pork to the face…um, fist…

"Oh, it's been _brought," _said the puff, holding up another piece and biting into it. Fuming, Crazy Hand balanced a plate of spaghetti on his index finger and flung it at Kirby. The marshmallow leapt into the air (_But he's got like fifteen different casts on! _Crazy thought in disbelief.) and the spaghetti spun inches under his feet, like a scene out of _The_ _Matrix. _Except I don't think that anyone in _The Matrix _ever dodged spaghetti. Or carried about two tons of food in their right hand. Kirby immediately retaliated with a bowl of gravy, which landed upside-down on Crazy Hand's ring finger and poured down onto him. Oh. My. God. His _glove_ was _stained._

No more Mr. Nice Deranged, Disembodied Left Hand.

Crazy grabbed five large watermelons, one on each finger (though, apparently, the thumb is technically not a finger, but no one was really concerned with scientific details at the moment). He tossed them all at the same time in a fruity barrage.

Ho-ly schnitzel. He _dodged _them. _Every single one._ Kirby had dropped his crutch, thrown the plate of food into the air, evaded every watermelon (including doing a flip), and caught the plate again, without a single crumb falling. Pink Marshmallow then picked up one of the watermelons, split it in half _by cracking it on his head, _and then devoured everything inside one of the halves. Face covered in red watermelon juice, he said, "What now, Hand? _What now?!"_

Well, now Crazy Hand was certain that Kirby could, in some way, defy the laws of physics. "I see you have mastered the art of Food Fu," he said, bowing as much as a hand could. "I must surrender to your awesome power. Please, feast without further interruption from me."

Marshmallow looked at the food-covered Crazy Hand and bowed back. "Fine. I shall allow you to leave with your honor."

"Thank you, o gracious master."

"Oh, don't mention it, Crazy."

"See you tomorrow for this week's DDR face-off?"

"Of course."

And so the conversation ended. Crazy Hand decided to head for the little hands' room before anyone else could see how completely owned he had just gotten and wash off his fist. He was just outside the bathroom, waving to Mr. Roboto and Watch & Game (who were in the middle of killing each other, but stopped briefly to wave back), when he heard the three people he had been looking for arguing. "Ah, if it isn't Ganondork, Marty-O, and Turtle-Boy," he said floating up to them. "How are things going for you three?"

"Not good," Marty-O sighed, apparently not perturbed that Crazy Hand was covered with gravy and pork. Ganondork and Turtle-Boy nodded in agreement. "It seems," the Italian continued, "that none of us can agree on an idea to get into the girls' bathroom without causing mass humiliation to ourselves or others. Any ideas?"

If Crazy had eyes, they would have widened. "Why in Petey's name (Petey was the leftie's stuffed worm) would you want to go in there?! There's…" He whispered the next word, as if it were too vulgar to be said with little children around. "…Makeup…"

"_Exactly _what I said!" exclaimed Marty-O.

"We all have to make sacrifices," Ganondork retorted. "You can stand the makeup, Mario. Just steer clear of it and you'll be fine."

"But I forgot my gas mask!"

"I can take care of that," said Crazy, conjuring up a gas mask and handing it to Marty-O. The three of them looked at each other in disbelief.

Turtle-Boy poked Ganondork. "I think Crazy Hand's _magic," _he whispered.

"Dude, I think you're right," Ganondork whispered back.

Marty-O shouldered the gas mask, wide-eyed. "Al-righty, then, Crazy. Thanks?" he said, looking to the large mask. Then, grinning, he put it on, turned to Ganondork, and in a British accent said, "Are you my mummy?"

"No one likes that show except you," Ganondork muttered, grabbing the gas mask, pulling it forward, and snapping it back onto his face.

"YeeeeOWCH!"

Turtle-Boy ignored the two morons. "Crazy Hand, the gas mask is nice and all, but it still doesn't address the, uh…ethical issue of three _men _going into the _girls' _bathroom. Ya know what I'm saying?"

"Oh, _of course!" _said Crazy. "Then, since you feel morally conflicted about it, the obvious solution is not to go _in _and get Princess Raspberry, but to bring Raspberry _out _to you!" He bunched up into a fist, convinced that he was a genius. The blank looks the three suitors gave him stunned the hand. "Come on, guys, it's simple!" he shouted. "What's there not to get?" Still silence from the three of them. Crazy Hand sighed, "Fine, I'll do all the work," and snapped his fingers. There was a huge explosion from the girls' bathroom. Everyone in the vicinity (besides Crazy) jumped. Then, there was the sound of the sprinklers turning on, and a swarm of girls charged out, soaking wet. Princess Orange brought up the rear, not only wet but scorched as well. Crazy Hand gave the guys a thumbs up. "Get it _now?" _he asked.

Oh, they got it. And they apparently weren't too happy about it. "Are you _crazy?!" _shouted Marty-O, waving his arms like a chicken who had too much caffeine.

"I don't know, Mario, it's not like that's his _name _or anything," Turtle-Boy sighed.

Marty-O continued flailing around, cursing Crazy Hand, Turtle-Boy, and life in general in Italian, while Ganondork took charge of the situation. "Look, guys, I know that these aren't the most…" He glared at Crazy. "…_favorable _of circumstances, but we've got to make due. At least Peach is out of the bathroom now. Bowser, could you go get a towel?" Ganondork glanced over to Princess Huckleberry, whose blonde hair was starting to smoke a bit. "…On second thought, get a fire extinguisher, too," he added. Turtle-Boy facepalmed and went off to grab them.

Well, Crazy Hand was content with what he'd done. He nodded to the two remaining suitors. "Good luck then, lover-boys!" he said. If he had a mouth, he'd be grinning. Crazy floated away.

"I'LL GET YOU, CRAZY! _AVRÒ MIA VENDETTA, O QUELLO GLOVED BIANCA!"_

_"LA VOSTRA MADRE ERA UN CRICETO!"_ Crazy Hand shouted back to Marty-O in perfect Italian.

Eyes wide, Marty-O opened his mouth to say something, then began crying. "Oh, Mama!" Snickering, Crazy returned to the DJ stand and popped in _Through the Fire and Flames._

Life was _good, _man. Life was _good._

* * *

Meta Knight flapped his wings to slow them down as the two approached the ground and landed softly on the Smash Mansion pavilion. They'd spent the last forty minutes flying. Meta wished they'd flown more, but it was getting late, and he knew it'd be terrible if he somehow got them lost in the dark. Jigglypuff seemed disappointed that their flight was coming to an end as well, but she smiled that beautiful smile at him and snuggled closer, not wanting to let go. His insides turned to mush, and a blush ran across his face. Before, the thrill of flying, the wind against his face and through his wings, had kept him from realizing how close they were. But now, he fully felt her soft skin against his, and he was having trouble remembering to breathe.

Then she whispered, "Thank you, Meta," in a voice so sweet he really _did _forget to breathe, and it took him a second to reply.

"Oh, it was nothing, Jigglypuff," he managed to get out. He felt Jiggly's hand entwined with his, and she gave him a longing look that said, _Then let's keep flying. Just a while longer._ Yes, he wanted it, too. But it was too late, and he would take no chances with her safety at stake. And yet, he wanted more than anything to make her happy. "If…If you'd like," he began, "we…could fly again…maybe…like, during a sunset, or in the rain…" God, he was rambling, hesitating. Why now, of all times, to lose control? Meta had tried to keep his cool, but his emotions were winning yet again.

Jiggly didn't seem to mind. "I'd like that," she said. He smiled. She smiled back. A cool breeze blew by, and she cuddled closer. Meta Knight couldn't tell if it was for warmth or something more. In truth, he didn't care. They were together, alone; it was perfect. He wondered. _Should I tell her now? _The time was right. She was here, in his arms. Only three little words. But he couldn't do it. He, Meta Knight, brave Star Warrior, who'd faced countless things more terrifying than this, couldn't muster up enough courage to tell a girl how he really felt about her.

Perhaps he was scared of what she would tell _him. _He was almost certain it'd be _no._ After all, who could care about him? It had already been pointed out to him by many people, many times over, that he wasn't the most approachable of Smashers. Stand-offish, cold, uncaring… _But that was before I met her. She's the reason I changed. She's why I stayed here in the first place. I…I need to tell her. It would be unfair…After all she's done for me…_

Finally, the two broke apart. He instantly missed the feel of her skin, wanted her back in his arms again. Jigglypuff gave him a small, regretful smile, as if she had read his mind, then reached her hand out again. He'd have been a fool not to take it.

"It's really beautiful tonight," she said.

"It's not just the night that's beautiful," he whispered. He wasn't sure if she heard. Half of him wished she did. Jiggly motioned towards a bench, and the two sat down. Meta could feel her slowly inching towards him.

"…Meta, have you ever thought—?" She cut herself off, looking away, at the ground.

But now he was interested. "Ever…thought about what, Jigglypuff?"

Jiggs shook her head. "It's nothing. Never mind," she said, far too quickly. Meta Knight squeezed her hand reassuringly. She looked back to him, giving him a sheepish little grin.

"Ever thought about what?" he asked again.

She seemed to hesitate. "…About love?" she finished quietly. It hit him right between the eyes, and he was taken aback. Maybe she really _was_ a mind reader.

Meta recomposed himself, hoping his shock wasn't too obvious. "…Sometimes," he replied, though he knew _sometimes _was an understatement. It had been on his mind constantly, a strange obsession he couldn't get rid of. Ever since he had asked her to the dance…Or did it start before that, when Kirby asked her? Either way, yes, he had definitely thought about love as of late.

"Do you ever think about what to do, you know, if you find love?"

"…I don't think you find love," he said. "I think…love finds you, whether you're ready or you're not." He didn't ever think these words would come out of his mouth, but he realized the truth in them; he'd never asked for love. It had kinda whacked him in the face, said, "I'm here, and I'm not leaving, so deal with it, pal," and stuck with him ever since, through denials, hesitations, and uncertainties. Jigglypuff nodded, eyes wandering off into the distant space. The stars were beautifully bright tonight; Meta could see their reflection in Jiggly's bright green eyes. Or maybe it was just her eyes sparkling. He couldn't tell. There was silence for a few minutes. Meta Knight knew it was the right time. He wanted, needed to tell her. But he still struggled for the words. Why couldn't he just say it? Meta was so busy trying to gather his wits that he missed Jiggly's next question. "E-excuse me?" he asked.

Jigglypuff whispered the question, so it was no surprise that he missed it the first time. But this time he heard it. "Has…love found you, Meta Knight?"

If Meta Knight had said he was shocked before, he was ten times more shocked now. "W-what?" he stuttered, completely losing any sense of composure he had left. Jigglypuff seemed serious, and her eyes met his. Did she really say what he thought she just said? No. It couldn't be. This was all lining up too strangely, too…perfectly. She didn't ask that. His mind was playing tricks on him. …But it wasn't. Jigglypuff looked right at him, and a small, nervous smile crossed her lips. She gripped his hand tightly.

"Meta Knight," she said, barely a whisper, "do you love me?"

A freight train could have hit him, and Meta Knight would have still been more composed than he was then. "J-Jigglypuff, you…What?" He had no idea what was coming out of his mouth. He shut it, then opened it to try again. "You…You're asking…But, _me?" _he asked. "I…I don't understand…You…Me…I…" He would have kept on spitting on random nonsense, but Jigglypuff reached over, lightly putting her hand on his mask, over his mouth.

She softly giggled. "It's a yes-or-no question, Meta Knight," she said.

What was he supposed to take that as? A sign? Maybe it was. Maybe it was a sign that those feelings, those dreadful, wonderful feelings, weren't just one-sided, that there was a chance that maybe he, the pathetic freak, could actually…be…_loved…_And all that tension, anxiety, the questions, the unwanted answers that he really did want, deep down; _everything; _it had all lead up to this. This was the moment, this was what he had waited for, hoped for, dreaded, _wanted. _Everything. It all lead up to—

"Yes."

…He had said it. Holy crap. He had said it, and he didn't even realize he had said it until he felt Jigglypuff's arms wrap around him and squeeze him tightly.

"Good," she whispered. "Because I love you, too." Then she hugged him tighter, crept in close. Meta didn't know what hit him harder: relief, or shock. He also didn't care. He hugged her back, taking it in. He had done it. He had told her he loved her. And she loved him, too. Things couldn't get more perfect, couldn't get more right.

Unless…

Meta Knight drew back his arms. At first, Jigglypuff looked at him, thinking something was wrong. But then, he did the one thing that he swore he would never, _ever, _do. Ever.

He took off his mask.

Slowly, Meta removed the metal and revealed his face. The truth was, he was really nervous. Would Jigglypuff think the same way about him when she saw his true face? But it was a chance he'd have to take. And, finally, when his face was fully visible, he looked to Jigglypuff. She looked back, at first a little shocked, but then she smiled at him. "Geez, Meta," she said, "why'd you hide your face under that mask for so long? You're really cute."

"I look like Kirby," he muttered. For he did. Though his eyes were yellow instead of Kirby's blue, he was, basically, a blue version of Kirby (though, to be technical, Meta Knight is older than Kirby, so Kirby is really a pink version of Meta Knight. Think about that.).

"Oh, don't be silly. You're much cuter than Kirby," said Jiggly.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Meta asked. Jiggly let out a small gasp, thinking she had offended him, but then Meta laughed, and she smiled again. "Jigglypuff," he said, "I love you. More than anything." What had just seconds ago been so hard to say now flowed easily. He knew she loved him back. And then, before she could say anything, Meta Knight leaned in and kissed her. Her lips were initially frozen in shock, but they softened as she realized what was going on. She leaned into it, holding him closer, closing her eyes.

And at that moment, for both of them, nothing could have been better.

* * *

So, there you have it! Voila!

There's one more chapter after this, and possibly an epilogue. And they will come SOONER. I promise.

Hey, if you know what the gas mask reference is from, I'll give you more cookies!

Oh, and the Italian translates to this:

Mario says: "I will have my revenge, o white gloved one!"

And Crazy Hand says: "Your mother was a hamster!"

I got that from an online translator, so the wording might not be exactly correct.

PRESS THE GREEN BUTTON. PRESS IT. Please?

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	14. Don't Stop

HA! Double update! WHAT NOW?! (starts dancing and does the moonwalk)

(stops) Rest in peace, Michael Jackson. Your music and dancing will never be forgotten. (tips hat and moonwalks out)

(pops head back in) I'm doing the disclaimer myself this time! I own nothing related to this story, sans the plot itself. _Don't Stop Believin' _belongs to Journey, who I would like to thank personally for such an awesome song.

Well? Why are you still reading the author's notes? It's the last chapter! Read, my lovelies!

* * *

Peach was soaking wet, the three guys she most definitely did _not _want to talk to were trying to talk to her, and her hair was on fire. How much better could this ball get?

Mario, Bowser, and Ganondorf seemed completely oblivious to Peach's discomfort, and continued to babble on to her and amongst themselves. She couldn't catch what they were saying. She was too busy thinking up ways to completely destroy them. The smell of smoke got stronger. Turning, Peach saw that the tips of her hair, which had previously just been smoking, had burst into legitimate flames. And she did what any girl would do.

Freaked out.

Before Peach was two seconds into her panic attack, however, Bowser had taken the fire extinguisher and covered her head in foam. Panic turned to rage. "Bowser," she growled, "_what_ did you mean to accomplish by that?"

Bowser shrank away from her. "Well, your hair's not on fire anymore, is it?" he whimpered. He _had _a point. But it didn't mean that she couldn't be upset that, on top of everything, her hair was now a foamy mess instead of a flaming one. Afraid that he was going to get pounded with a frying pan again, Bowser quickly handed her a towel, and she wiped off the foam. Great. Now, instead of there being an adjective in front of it, her hair was just _a mess._

"Look, Peach," said Ganondorf. "What we've been trying to say is that we're sorry."

"For the flaming explosion or the sprinklers that came afterwards?" she asked cynically.

"Hey, that was Crazy Hand's fault!" Mario shouted.

Bowser pushed the plumber out of the way, muttering, "Shut up." He turned to the princess. "We're _sorry,"_ he said, "for making complete fools of ourselves and putting you in an extremely awkward situation. Right, guys?" Mario and Ganondorf nodded, if grudgingly. It was easy to see that both of them wanted to be the one to make the official apology. Peach sighed. Those three were so competitive…She was impressed by the fact that they had cooperated with each other in order to give her a proper apology. It was actually kinda sweet of them.

"…It's alright," she muttered at last. "Just _don't do it again." _The three nodded eagerly. _"Ever." _They kept nodding. "Or I'll kill you." The nodding turned into cowering.

…Well, a few awkward seconds had gone by, and the guys were still looking at her, as if they were expecting something. She raised an eyebrow. And they kept staring. "What?" she asked. "What more could you possibly want from me?"

The guys glanced among each other nervously. Then Mario spoke out. "We were thinking, maybe, that you were going to…choose…one of us?"

Mario was whacked over the head with a frying pan.

"Yow-wow-wow-wow-wow!" he shouted, grabbing his head in pain. Bowser and Ganondorf, eyes wide, jumped back in fear of the frying pan.

Peach glared at all of them. "I told you not to do it again!" she fumed.

Ganondorf shook his hands. "Ignore the idiot plumber," he said nervously. "I definitely did _not _have that idea in mind. No, ma'am."

Ganondorf was whacked over the head with a frying pan.

He let out shouts of pain similar to Mario's, with a few curse words thrown in to boot. "What was that for?!" he shouted, one of the few sentences not containing profanities.

"For being a suck-up," said Peach, rubbing her frying pan with the towel. Geez, was that blood on there? She hoped not. Violence was fun, but not when it landed you in jail. She saw Bowser, chuckling madly.

Bowser was whacked over the head with a frying pan.

"Geez!" he muttered, rubbing his head. "I didn't even say anything!"

"Well, I had to make it three," Peach reasoned. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair." Mario and Ganondorf smirked. Peach held up the frying pan again, and the smirks disappeared.

But did they seriously want her to choose? What kind of idiotic buffoons were they?! Wasn't that _exactly _what she had screamed at them for half an hour ago? Peach scanned the three suitors. Well, there was Mario, who was finally paying more attention to her than food. She had to admit, she did have a small crush on him. But who in the Mushroom Kingdom didn't? And now that he was giving her the proper attention…

Then there was Bowser. He was her _date. _It would look really bad if she decided to choose one of the other two. But looking bad wasn't the only reason she considered him. He was sweet, and funny, and had finally given up on the kidnapping business. Maybe…

Then came Ganondorf. No history, no back story, no nothing. It seemed like he was the least likely pick. But Peach had to admit, he was kinda cute. In an awkward, bumbling King of Evil kind of way. And he had asked her to come with him, asked her to dance…

God above, why was this so hard for her?! She was Princess Peach Toadstool, matchmaker extraordinaire! And she couldn't even decide which guy she liked best? Was she losing her touch? Peach let out a sigh. "Shoot me now," she muttered, glancing up to the sky and hoping that whoever was up there would hear her prayers and smite her before things got worse. Seeing as she was still here, the Big Boss Upstairs presumably was taking no pity on her and leaving her to deal with this mess herself. Loverly.

"I…I can't do this, guys," she said. "Really. You're all really nice and everything, but…I just can't choose. Not right now. You've got to give me some time, okay?" This caused a few jaw drops. Peach, admitting she couldn't do something? Unheard of! And she knew it.

But putting it off didn't make it go away. She was still going to have to decide. Four choices: Mario, Bowser, Ganon, or none of them. Option four would leave everyone unhappy, including her, but any of options one, two, and three would leave two angry and ready-to-blow suitors. This was not looking so good…

Then the clock chimed twelve times. Peach's head shot up. She knew what that meant. The ball was supposed to end at midnight. Crazy Hand's voice overtook the crowd. "Alright, all you lovely couples out there. This last dance is just for you!" He pressed a few buttons, and Peach heard the beginning of the one song that she had requested(cough)demanded be played at least once during the ball. Her favorite song in the entire world, but she never expected it to be played last. As _Don't Stop Believin' _began, Peach was sure that, if he had eyes, Crazy Hand would have winked at her.

It wasn't a slow song. It was barely a dancing song at all. But Peach knew it was _her_ song. And she was prepared to dance to it. Unfortunately, she had three guys willing to dance with her. She had to choose fast, before it was too late. Peach glanced at them. All three were hopeful…but…

"I think…" she started. "I think that I really _should _have the last dance…with my date, you know?"

Bowser's grin widened. Mario's and Ganon's faces sank, but they couldn't argue with that logic. Regretfully, the two of them stepped onto the sidelines, grumbling. Peach took Bowser's outstretched claw, and he led her out onto the dance floor. He grinned at her, and she gave a small smile back. "Peach?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"…I really don't care who you pick," he said. "Thanks for this. For coming with me. Thanks, Peach." And then he started dancing, spinning a startled Peach around. She wanted to ask him to repeat that, please. Did he really…? But when she looked to ask him, she saw that he was singing along. "Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard…" he sang. Well. That was the end of it. She began to sing, too.

"…Their shadows searching in the night," she sang with him. "Streetlights, people, living just to find emotion, hiding somewhere in the night…"

_Don't stop believin'._

Peach continued to sing, the choice becoming clearer with every word. This was her time. Her choice. Her moment. Her song. And she realized that everything, every last thing, had gone _perfectly._

_

* * *

_

One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten…eleven…twelve.

The clock announced that it was midnight. Crazy Hand shouted above the crowd, "Alright, all you lovely couples out there. This last dance is just for you!" And Wolf had barely drunk the last of his (not spiked) punch when Samus pulled him onto the dance floor.

"I love Journey!" she said, starting to hum along with the lyrics to _Don't Stop Believin'._ Wolf nodded, trying to figure out how exactly he was supposed to dance to this. At first, Samus let him slow dance to the…well, not slower, but less intense beginning. She quietly sang the words, eyes drifting all over the place. Suddenly, her eyes fixed on one place, and she stopped singing. "Wolf, Wolf, look at Marth and Zelda!" she said excitedly. He squinted, looking for the two of them.

"…Wait, are we _supposed _to be staring at them making out?!" he said, taken aback. Samus laughed.

"Duh. Isn't that great, though?"

Wolf looked at her and knew she had a bit too much sugar tonight. "You hate romance," he said to her. She shook her head.

"I never said that," she argued, though she most definitely did say that all of two days ago. Sighing, Wolf decided it was in his best interest not to argue and just keep dancing. The music gained intensity, and Samus started singing louder. Wolf looked at her again, her dazzling blonde hair flowing with the music, and he gulped. This whole night had really been spent with Samus dragging him around (and spiking his punch, apparently?) while he basically stared at her and let her do whatever she wanted. Back when he was commanding Star Wolf, before he came to Smash Mansion, he had trained himself to not feel emotion. Well, that training had kinda jumped out the window, leaving Wolf confused and hopeless and wondering how he really felt about the gorgeous bounty hunter. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel. He _liked _her; well, more than that. And he wanted to tell her, but he wasn't sure how.

Should he just say it? Or should he kiss her, as Marth had done with Zelda? He was at a complete loss for what to do. "Hey, hey, Wolf, Earth to Wolf," said Samus, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Can you hear me?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I can hear you," he muttered. Samus glanced at him disbelievingly.

"Then what did I say?"

Wolf shrugged. "I came in at 'Earth to Wolf'," he said.

Samus let out a small _hmph._ "I asked you to spin me!"

"What?"

Then she laughed. "You know, dance! Do the spin move!" she said.

"Like the weird pirouette thing?" he asked, spinning her around his claw. She laughed, clearly enjoying it, but shook her head.

"No, like when I'm legit in the air!" she said. "The thing they do in movies!"

"Samus, we're in a crowded ballroom," said Wolf cynically. "You sure that's a good idea?" Her chants of "Do it, do it, do it, do it!" clearly told him that she thought it was an excellent idea. He sighed. "If we break someone's neck, I'm blaming you," he said. He began to swing her around, gently, of course. She giggled like a little schoolgirl, having the time of her life. Then, Wolf felt his heels shift uneasily. Oh, crud. He was going to fall, lose his footing. And that would probably be horrific. He teetered back and forth, praying that he wouldn't fall. _I've got one shot at this,_ he thought to himself. Wolf began to fall forward, but he quickly stopped Samus, catching her and stopping both of them from toppling over in a famous dance pose.

Unfortunately, or perhaps not so unfortunately, this left his face inches from hers. Wolf went fifty-two and a half shades of red. _Aw, crap, aw, crap, crap, crap! _Samus, however, knew exactly what to do in a situation like this. "Wow, Wolf," she said, looking him right in the eyes, "you're a great dancer." And then she leaned forward and kissed him.

…Geez, maybe she _was_ on a sugar high or something…

Wolf's initial reaction was complete shock. He didn't realize what exactly was going on until it was over, and Samus pulled herself up, brushing herself off as if nothing had ended. The song drew to a close, and a mass cheer rose up from the Smashers and their dates. Samus clapped along with them, but Wolf continued to simply stare at her. He could never figure that girl out.

And he realized, with a grin, that he never would.

* * *

"Alright, all you lovely couples out there!" Crazy Hand shouted. "This last dance is just for you!" There was a mass migration of any and every couple in the gymnasium to the dance floor, forming a strange amoeba of dancers and leaving the rest of the gym barren.

Well, _almost _barren.

Seeing as Mario and Ganondorf had retreated to the other side of the room, sneaking into the shadows when they saw that Peach was not going to dance with them, and Lucario had gone off to take pictures, Pit and Dedede sat alone at the buffet table, the last remaining members of the dateless group (Kirby, whom they understood was also dateless, had gone out onto the dance floor anyway, at was presently having a dance-off with Crazy Hand.). _Don't Stop Believin' _started playing, and the crowd let out a roar of approval. Pit turned to Dedede. "Strange choice of song," he said, trying to make conversation. Dedede let out a grumble in return, cutting it off before it could even start. "Okay, geez," muttered the angel. "If you didn't want to talk to me, you could have said so." Dedede grumbled inaudibly again. The two sat for a few moments, until a loud voice from behind them caused them to whiz around.

"Dedede! Pit! Get over here _now!" _The two of them saw the previously MIA Lucario, waving and motioning for them to follow him. Pit looked to the penguin king and shrugged, then got up and went after the blue Pokémon. Still grumbling, Dedede followed, if only to not look like a loser, sitting alone at the last dance. Lucario hurried them through a door on the side of the gym. This was the weight room, and the place where all the things previously in the gymnasium had been moved. So it was, needless to say, rather cramped. Every other step there was a piece of sports equipment. But Lucario nimbly navigated through, heading for the back. Pit gracefully flew in the air, avoiding the equipment covered floor. Dedede, however, didn't travel as gracefully, kicking and pushing anything that was in his way out of it. In the end, he succeeded in breaking two tennis racquets, deflating three basketballs, and dismantling a pile of dumbbells (the last one which also caused serious damage to his foot as well). A stream of curses followed.

Finally, Lucario stopped in front of a laptop. "Here it is!" he said proudly. He motioned to his camera, which was plugged into the laptop. "Come look at these shots. This is photography gold!" The Pokémon clicked a few things, and then a page full of pictures shot up.

"You couldn't have just taken the laptop out to us?" muttered Dedede grumpily, but he and Pit approached the laptop screen and began browsing through the pictures. The first ones were multiple shots of Peach and Ganondorf dancing, from different angles, too. They were all rather nice shots, especially the one where Ganon stepped on Peach's foot and Peach slapped him. Then came some candid shots that Lucario had taken while just fooling around with the camera. They were nothing special, though every now and then there was an amazing capture. Like Ness picking his nose, thinking no one could see. Or Samus pouring a weird bottle into the punch bowl. After that were posed pictures. Lucario got some fairly nice photos of some of the couples; there was a cute shot of Link and Midna, a couple photos of Luigi and Rosalina, one of Wario proposing to Mona, and many others. Basically, if you had a date, Lucario had gotten a picture of you. Pit and Dedede continued scrolling down; there was one of Lucas being chased by one of the Aura Sphere lights; Master Hand chowing down on an entire roast turkey (though they had no idea how he was eating it—no mouth?); and…was that Kirby? Doing a _flip?_ Finally through with all the Kodak moments, Pit nodded.

"These are really good," he said. "I like the one of Bowser spraying Peach with the fire extinguisher the best."

"No. The one of Ganondorf. When he had no idea that there was a photo being taken and made that really awkward face. _That _was the best," said Dedede.

"Or Blaze whacking Sonic over the head," said the angel.

"Or Game & Watch pounding R.O.B. with a snapping turtle," the penguin added in.

"My personal favorite," said Lucario, "is the one where Blue, Candy, and Dixie all got soaked. That was Falco and Katt's doing. It took a _lot _of water coolers, let me tell you." He chuckled, remembering the look on the Meta Knight Freaks Me Out club's faces when the torrents of ice cold water came down. Then he realized something. "Hey, I don't have any pictures of you guys," he said. In one sweeping motion, he grabbed the camera, clicked the button, and a blinding flash illuminated the room. Pit and Dedede blinked spots out of their eyes, and Lucario checked on his picture. "Hey, this is pretty good," he said, showing it to them. Pit, who had anticipated what was going to happen, had been able to get a quick smile on his face, so he looked halfway decent. But Dedede still had the same "I-hate-the-world" face on that he usually did. He eyed the picture carefully.

"You're right," he said. "That's an excellent shot."

There was a sudden eruption of cheers from the gym. "I'm assuming that means that the dance…ball is over," said Pit.

"Oh, they may be cheering now," said Lucario, his voice taking on an evil tone they had never heard before, "but wait until tomorrow, when this pictures are uploaded to the Internet!" He let out a mad laugh, his shoulders shaking. He looked like a villain straight out of a movie. Dedede and Pit glanced at each other, more than a little freaked out.

"Uh…Lucario? Are you okay?" asked Dedede.

Instantly, the Aura Pokémon snapped out of it. "Hmm? What? Why wouldn't I be okay?" Pit and Dedede said nothing, instead backing away very slowly.

* * *

Out on the pavilion, Meta Knight and Jigglypuff sat, still wrapped in each other's arms. They had looked at the stars for a while, just talking. Jiggly hadn't ever felt so…wonderful before. He loved her. It was the best feeling in the world, knowing that you were loved. She had never thought it would feel this good, being loved, and loving someone back. She snuggled into Meta's arms. Wonderful. That's exactly what it was. What this whole night was. Just wonderful.

The clock chimed once, twice…twelve times. Suddenly, Jigglypuff was hit with realization. "Oh! The ball's over!" she said. "We…We missed the last dance!" Now that was disheartening. No, it was plain distressing. Missing the last dance? After all they'd been through tonight? What was _that?_ Huh?

Meta looked towards the lights of the gym. There was the faint sound of music…Journey? "We haven't yet," he said, getting up off the bench. He offered Jiggly his hand. "Jigglypuff," he said, "may I have this dance?"

"Since when have you needed to ask?" she replied, taking his hand and coming off the bench. Immediately she found herself in his arms again. Just like Meta. Making sure that everything was exactly to her liking. She wanted a last dance? A last dance was what she got, and more. Slowly, but still in time to the distant music, the two of them rocked back and forth, never taking their eyes off of each other. The last dance. But it was different. Now she knew that Meta Knight loved her, and she wasn't afraid to lean forward and whisper, "Thanks, Meta," brushing her lips against his cheek in a soft kiss. In response, he turned and kissed her on the lips again, and Jigglypuff returned to heaven. And they danced, underneath the starry sky, which in Jiggly's opinion was the best ceiling. She wanted to say so much. _I love you, Meta Knight. I love you more than anything, and I care about you, and always will, and nothing will ever change that._ That's what she wanted to say, but she knew she didn't need to. He knew. And even if she wanted to try to say it, Meta's soft lips were still pressed against hers, making speech rather impossible. Ah well. It wasn't like she was complaining.

Finally, from the gymnasium came a massive cheer. The two broke away, knowing the dance was drawing to a close. "Well," said Meta Knight, "I guess we should head back, then."

"Yeah. I guess." Meta grabbed his mask, starting to fix it back on, but not before he kissed Jigglypuff again. They walked together, hands entwined, back to the gym…ballroom, really. Meta Knight opened the door for her, and they walked in to be instantly greeted by Wolf and Samus.

"Hey! Where were you guys?" asked Samus. "You missed it! Falco and Katt dumped ice water on Blue, Dixie Kong, and Candy Kong!" Jiggly swore she heard Meta snicker. "And then, Crazy Hand started playing Journey at full blast, and Wolf and I did the spin move, and it was the _best, _man. The _best." _She laughed, starting to pull Wolf along to go talk to someone else.

"She kissed me!" Wolf mouthed to them, pointing a claw at the female bounty hunter. Jigglypuff gave him a thumbs up, and Meta nodded to him.

Next to pass them were Peach and Bowser. Peach saw them and waved, then, seeing their intertwined hands, seemed to get a satisfied smirk on her face. Then she turned to Bowser and kissed him on the cheek, turning the Koopa's face beet red. Behind them trailed a rather angry Ganondorf and Mario. The other couples began to leave the gym; Blaze and Sonic, Krystal and Fox, and Falco and Katt all waved to them. "Hey," Meta called to the last two, "thanks." They all glanced over to Blue, Candy, and Dixie, who were all soaked to the bone and clinging to their dates, shivering.

"Aw, no problem, buddy," said Falco. "I'm the only one allowed to call you creepy around here." And then they left.

Most of the couples had also left. Then Jigglypuff spotted Marth and Zelda. The two of them were making out in the corner, completely oblivious to the fact that basically everyone was gone. Meta Knight leaned in. "Should we get them?" he asked.

Jiggly shook her head. "They're going to have to come up for air eventually," she said. Meta let out a soft chuckle. "Well, the ball's over. Regretting that you gave in and came?" she asked.

"Far from it," said the Star Warrior. He lifted his mask a bit and kissed her again. "Thanks, Jigglypuff," he whispered.

"For what?"

"For saying yes," he said. And then the two of them walked out of the room.

The ball was over. It had come and gone so fast, it seemed. And it left behind new romances, new discoveries, and, most importantly, new friendships, and old friendships renewed and made stronger. What had started out as a dreaded, despised thing had become a life changer. And all the Smashers had silently agreed: that night wasn't going to be topped for quite a while. An often retold story, a favorite memory.

And so it ended. But, really, didn't that just mean that everything else began?

* * *

...Wow. So that's it, then. The end. ...I think I need a tissue.

Meta Knight: (sighs and hands her one)

Me: (blows nose) It's over...It's really the end... (blows nose)

Meta Knight: ...You're insane.

Me: But WAIT! (throws tissue away) There's MORE! (stops, tips hat) Billy Mays. Never forgotten. (gets back on topic) There will be an epilogue! Coming soon! Thank you guys for sticking with me through all of this. Without you, my reviewers, this would probably still be stuck at chapter two. Thanks so much! (throws cookies into the air) You're the best!!

...Well, it's almost two o'clock in the morning. I really should be getting to bed, shouldn't I? Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	15. Epilogue

Well, guys (and girls, and robots). This is it. The end. I've got some special thanks. First to my anonymous reviewers, because I'm unable to reply. Here are your cookies! (hands out cookies) Secondly, to all my reviewers, because you're what make the world go round. And finally, to Crazy Hand, for just being that awesome.

Crazy Hand: WHAT NOW?! WOOT!

Me: I own nothing. That's the last disclaimer right there. ...I think I'm gonna cry.

Well, here's the epilogue. Go on and read while I find a tissue.

* * *

"So, could you tell me why we're here again?"

Meta Knight looked back at his girlfriend as the two of them walked hand in hand into the large room. "…Don't make me answer that," he sighed. Jigglypuff laughed.

It had been a week since the ball. All the dates had left the day after, promising to keep in touch and come visit every once in a while. Life had basically returned to normal for the Smashers, though "normal" was a very loose term. Things blew up, food fights occurred, etcetera, etcetera. The only difference was the new couples, really. And even they acted the same as always, showing that people knew they were getting together eventually.

All the Smashers had gathered in the auditorium for yet another meeting organized by Master Hand, much to the annoyance of some. Meta and Jiggly walked up to Samus and Wolf, Samus's hand wrapped tightly in Wolf's claw. Both waved to them, giving a "Hey!" and "What's up?" respectively. The two puffballs nodded back, and thus began the small talk. They were joined soon afterwards by Peach and Bowser.

"Anything up your sleeve this time?" muttered Samus, glaring at Peach.

The princess looked confused. "What was up my sleeve last time?" she asked. Samus facepalmed, and the others laughed. Marth and Zelda also joined the group, and they chatted about everything from the cafeteria food to the weather in Norfair.

About fifteen minutes into the conversation, there was a loud shout of, "WHERE'S MASTER HAND?!" from the crowd. At first people glanced at the source of the voice (Ike), annoyed, but eventually there were nods and mumbles of agreement. The question was…somewhat answered by a loud scream. The door on the side of the large splintered into a thousand pieces as a white gloved hand flew into the room, screaming his head…hand off.

"_Hello! Hola! Gutentag! Bonjour! Ciao! Ni hao! Konnichiwa!"_

Obviously, this was not the hand the Smashers were looking for. Crazy Hand continued shouting out greetings in different languages and zooming around the room. The sad thing was that he hadn't had coffee today. Master Hand followed through the hole in the wall that had seconds ago been a door, clearly used to this.

"Good morning, everyone!" he said. There was an awkward silence, except for Crazy Hand, who had given up the languages and was now burping his ABCs. Master Hand sighed. "Well, you all seem really excited to be here, so I'll get to the point. The dance…"

"BALL!" shouted Peach.

"…ball was a great success," said the hand. "I'd like to thank all of you for your participation and help in making it what it was."

"Which was awesome," said Crazy. Master Hand glared at him, and he went back to burping the ABCs.

"But anyway," Master continued, "due to the success of the Spring Ball, Crazy and I hatched an idea."

"Oh no," said Crazy Hand, "this was _all _you, bro. I had _nothing _to do with this."

"Anyone starting to get a sinking feeling?" asked Wolf.

Master Hand ignored them both. "We know how much you all enjoyed this ball, so we've decided to organize a summer dance to take place at the end of July. What do you think?"

There was a silence. Smashers glanced at each other. Eyes went wide. Then came a loud, unanimous cry from the masses.

"NO!!!"

* * *

It was short, I know, but that's what epilogues are supposed to be. I hope you've enjoyed _Dancing with the Smashers. _I know I have! Thanks for all your lovely reviews. And if you liked this, check out my new story, _Stella Luminosa, _which I will be posting probably later today.

Here's my last comment: LONG LIVE THE METAxJIGGLY ARMY!!

Meta Knight: (sigh)

Jigglypuff: (facepalm)

Me: Well, from everyone here at Smash Mansion...

All the Smashers (and moi!): CIAO!!

-Umbreon Mastah


End file.
